The Distorted Shadow's WIP collection
by The Distorted Shadow
Summary: A Series of first chapters for ideas that have grown courtesy of my forum.
1. Introduction

Hello Everybody

For my long time subscribers this will probably seem familiar... but this is going to be a sort of ficlet where I post the first chapters for other idea's I've had but don't want to commit to a full sized story _**just**_ yet.

Now pretty much every idea you see here will have a discussion thread on my Forum where things are fleshed out and plot points and perhaps even amusing little scenes are talked about.

Just to be clear, everything here has a good possibility of eventually becoming it's own story at some point as quite a lot of them are actually _**more**_ fleshed out in concept than some of my actual fics right now.

Now, if you want any idea of where these ideas may be going in the future, as I said, they each have a full Thread Dedicated to them on my forum (link can be found on my profile page).

Now for style format for this series:

 **[What fandoms the story is based on]**

[The first chapter of the story as it exists on my computer]

 **[Comments about the idea and things that need to be pointed out]**


	2. Kuzunoha Raido And The Dragon Of Dragons

**Shin Megami Tensei: Devil Summoner Series X Highschool DxD**

* * *

Hyōdō Issei didn't know what was going on as he packed his bags for the training trip that had suddenly been thrust upon him.

Not that he was against it, no, after his humiliating defeat at the hands of a little girl just the previous day he was certainly not complaining about the chance to get stronger.

Yes, he would get stronger and he would defeat Riser Phenex so that Buchou wouldn't have to marry him.

But…

He only had ten days.

Could he really become strong enough to face the guy in just ten days?

He clenched his fist at that thought.

It didn't matter if he thought he could get that strong that quickly, he just knew he had no other choice in the matter and because of that, he would make sure he did whatever it took to reach that target.

He once again focused on packing what he needed before he was drawn out of his thoughts by the doorbell ringing.

He didn't know who would be visiting now but he shook his head to clear his mind of distraction, he was going on this training trip and nothing was going to stop him.

"Issei! Kyouji-itoko and Rei-chan are here!" he heard his father call out and he found himself blinking in surprise.

He hadn't heard anything about them planning to come over.

It was certainly awkward, he knew his cousin once removed and partner were good people and he would like to spend some more time with them but now was the worst time.

He had to get stronger and wasting time with them was something he couldn't do.

"Sorry but I'm going to be going soon!" he responded as he finished up the packing and picked up the bags he had prepared.

Moving into the hallway he was greeted by the sight of the very woman he was trying to protect the virginity of, Rias Gremory.

She was tall, beautiful, had crimson hair that framed her face like a well-placed curtain and unfathomably massive breasts… breasts that he was happy to have seen on multiple occasions.

Standing next to her though, was another beauty, albeit one that was much shorter… Asia Argento.

Unlike Buchou she was small, blonde, had an innocent face and much smaller breasts… which he had also had the pleasure of seeing just the previous night.

He shook his head clear of those thoughts, now was not the time to get so distracted, he had to get ready for the training trip they were about to go on.

"Okay, I'm ready," he stated firmly earning a couple of nods from the pair of women that stood before him.

"Do you want to speak with your relatives?" the red-head asked and Issei found himself stalling slightly, he would like to but he needed to get as strong as he could as quickly as possible.

"It's fine," he assured her, "I need to get stronger so I can beat that guy."

The soft smile that grew on her face was almost enough to make him light headed but he proceeded to make his way downstairs and towards the front door.

"So, where are you going Issei-kun?" he almost jumped out of his skin upon hearing the soft voice of his Cousin Once Removed coming from behind him.

"K-Kyouji-san!" Issei found himself turning to face the man and was greeted by a sight he still remembered from childhood.

The man was currently stood with his back to the bannister and his arms crossed.

He was pretty average all said and done, with a black pompadour, a decent tan, a slim figure that fit his grey three-piece suit perfectly and most importantly, the one thing that always drew Issei's eye ever since he was a little boy… a gun holstered at his waist.

"So… where are you going?" the man asked calmly and Issei found himself trying to come up with a suitable excuse.

"To a training camp in the mountains," the voice of the high class devil that saved him spoke up, "we're going to be competing in a competition and are getting some last minute training in."

Issei felt relieved at that excuse but also found himself wondering why he couldn't think up something so simple and honest so quickly.

"Is that so," Kyouji didn't look particularly surprised, if anything he looked more amused, "I take it you don't have long before you have to catch your lift there."

"Yeah," he lied, the fact was that the transport would wait until they got there but he needed to get as much training in as possible.

"Okay then, Rei," he blinked at the man before looking towards the woman that always came with him whenever he visited.

She was an attractive woman, though her figure was nowhere near as good as Buchou's. She had light brown hair that was kept fairly short, not even reaching her shoulders with a red headband keeping it neat. She also wore a white striped business suit… and just as always, had a set of Nunchaku attached to her hips.

He had always wondered why they walked around with weapons but given how they always called themselves members of the Kuzunoha "clan" and dressed in business suits… he was inclined to believe they were Yakuza.

It didn't change the fact that they were usually pretty nice to him.

"Yes Kyouji-san?" the brown haired woman said calmly.

"Issei and his friends are going on a training trip," the gun toting man stated calmly, "I think we'll have to speak with him while he walks."

Eh?!

"What?!" Issei couldn't contain his surprise, he had not expected that reaction from his Cousin Once Removed but it seemed that they wanted to speak with him about something.

"We'll return soon," Kyouji continued speaking loud enough for Issei's parents to hear, "we do need to speak with Issei before he leaves after all."

Wait… they needed to speak with him?

"What happened?" he didn't know anything about the situation but he was certain it would be something important if they were singling him out… such a thing had never happened before after all.

"Oh… well, take care," he heard his father call out and noted the casual way his relative moved to the door and opened it for him.

"Well, let's go," the smile that was on the man's face scared him… because it was the same smile that he had seen on Raynare's face when she had been fooling him.

But… but Buchou was with him so he should be at least somewhat safe… right?

Despite his better judgement, he moved through the door and was soon followed by the others.

Silence reigned as they started walking along the street and towards Kuoh Academy where they would get transported to the location of their training via magic circle.

"So… it looks like a lot has happened since our last meeting hasn't it Issei-kun," Kyouji spoke up casually and Issei found himself nodding in agreement.

"Why do you need to speak with me?" he finally decided to ask outright and the man finally dropped his smile and gave a forlorn look at the sky.

"Raidou is dead," Issei almost froze at that claim, he remembered Raidou, he was a kind old man that he had met at one of the rare family gatherings that had taken place years ago, "and your name came up on the short list of potential successors."

Once again Issei found himself almost stalling.

Raidou wasn't an actual name, it was more of a title given to one of the four heads of the Kuzunoha clan… just like Kyouji was.

And to be on the short list as a clan head was something he had never expected to happen.

"How did Raidou die?" he had to ask.

"Age finally took him," yeah, that was no surprise to him, he was certain the man was about a hundred years old by now.

"So, what do you say?" Kyouji asked easily.

"… I'm sorry," he found himself saying without hesitation, "but I have to protect Buchou's Virginity!"

He couldn't stop himself from blurting that out and the way the faces of the two devils turned bright scarlet made it clear it was a rather embarrassing mistake.

"Oh?" Kyouji didn't seem all that put out by his mistake but Issei figured out a way of explaining it that fit with what they had already been told.

"W-well the competition is over Buchou's hand in marriage," he stated honestly… they didn't need to know the nature of the competition after all.

"I see…" the black haired man spoke knowingly, "then am I right in assuming it is an arranged marriage and 'Buchou' is unwilling?"

"Yes, and I will protect Buchou!" he felt truly fired up now, he would be capable of handling any training thrown his way.

"Then you should accept the Raidou name," Issei once again found himself caught off guard by the man, "doing so will provide you rather… intense, training that will help you in your competition."

Issei knew the man was both trying to convince him to take the title and help him at the same time but this wasn't the world of humans, this was the world of devils and he had other training that would be more effective for him than whatever they threw his way.

"Sorry… but I think Buchou's training will probably be better for me," he knew the excuse was weak but he couldn't think of a way of expressing his reasoning without revealing the fact he wasn't human anymore.

"Well… I guess if you're sure about this," the man said with some dissatisfaction, "I guess we'll have to respect your decision."

"Sorry," he found himself saying once more.

"It's fine," Kyouji responded before pulling out what looked like a business card, "but if you ever change your mind, just give us a call."

He wasn't sure what to expect on the card but when he looked, it was definitely something he hadn't expected.

 _Kuzunoha Detective Agency_

"You're detectives?" he couldn't stop the surprise from entering his voice at that revelation.

"Yeah, why else would we be allowed to carry weapons in public?" he couldn't bring himself to look the man in the eyes at that question.

"I… uh…" he was pretty nervous but decided to speak out anyway, "thought you were Yakuza."

The duo proceeded to blink in surprise before letting out a small laugh.

"Well, I suppose we probably do come off that way," the black haired man said with a small smile, causing Issei to relax at them taking it so easily.

"Well, enjoy your trip," Kyouji spoke out easily as he and Rei proceeded to turn their backs, "I hope you win your competition."

"See you later Issei," Rei also proceeded to say her own farewell before the duo turned back towards the family home.

Taking a deep breath, Issei prepared himself for the oncoming training.

XXX DEVIL SUMMONER: KUZUNOHA RAIDOU AND THE DRAGON OF DRAGONS XXX

Issei jerked awake.

He tried to calm his breathing but doing so only caused him to remember the nightmare that had plagued him over the past couple of days.

Or rather, should he call it a memory?

The memory of being beaten half to death by Riser Phenex during the rating game and failing his master.

He may have managed to win a one on one duel with the High Class Devil afterwards but it hadn't come without a cost.

He had needed to sacrifice his left arm to the dragon inside his Sacred Gear and even had to use some of the Holy Water Asia still had from her time as a member of the Church.

And even then he had barely managed to win.

Despite his training under Buchou, he was still weak.

Looking to his side, he saw her, lying there with no clothes on but this time there was a thought plaguing the back of his mind.

She had almost been forced to marry the blonde haired bastard and he had nearly lost her presence forever.

He needed to get stronger if he ever wanted to be able to protect her.

But it wasn't just his ability with the Boosted Gear that was the problem… it may have been a powerful tool but it had a glaring weakness.

The base.

The Boosted Gear doubled his power, so if he was twice as strong to begin with then he'd be boosted twice as fast and so on.

But he was so weak at his base that he could be taken out before he got any real strength.

He needed to improve his base.

His mind jerked back to a certain card as he pulled it out and looked at it for the first time since he got it.

 _Kuzunoha Detective Agency_

Maybe… maybe he should see about getting some training from people who needed a good base and at least some skill.

He would have to leave Buchou for a while but… but if it meant he could better protect her when the time came then he would just have to endure.

Biting his lip, he got out of his bed, making sure he didn't disturb her sleep as he made his way to the telephone.

He guessed that since they were detectives they would probably be prepared to answer at this sort of time and he needed to get this off his chest as quickly as possible.

Picking up the phone, he rang the number and waited for the ringing to stop.

" _Hello, this is the Kuzunoha Detective Agency… this is Sukeroku speaking, what can I do for you tonight?"_ he didn't recognize the voice or the name but he decided to continue with his course of action.

"This is Hyōdō Issei… are Rei or Kyouji available?" he asked as calmly as he could despite his heartrate skyrocketing as the possibility that the offer wasn't open anymore started to etch itself into his heart.

" _Ah, the Raidou candidate,"_ it was obvious that he hadn't gotten the wrong number if the man knew that, _"am I right to believe you've changed your mind?"_

"Yes… is the offer still open?" he asked nervously.

" _One hour,"_ he was confused by that statement, _"I'll pick you up in one hour… make sure you're ready."_

"Yes."

And with that, he knew he had taken his first real step onto the path his grandparents had left before his parents had even been born.

He just hoped he hadn't made a mistake.

XXX DEVIL SUMMONER: KUZUNOHA RAIDOU AND THE DRAGON OF DRAGONS XXX

Issei didn't know what to think of this Sukeroku person as he sat in the passenger seat of his car.

He was tall, paler than a corpse and wore a purple suit with a headband.

Honestly if he painted his lips red and dyed his black hair green then he'd probably think the man was Batman's arch-nemesis.

Well, that is if it wasn't for the man's mellow smile and soft eyes.

"S-so…" he tried to start a conversation but didn't quite know what to talk about, "h-how do you know Kyouji-san and Rei-san?"

"Well… I know Kyouji because that's my body he's using and Rei is my old partner," the man in purple stated easily and Issei found himself freezing at that casual claim.

"W-what do you mean 'your body'?" he didn't understand what was going on but the man just smiled.

"Come now," the words were more amused than anything else, "you're a devil so you should know that death isn't always the end."

Okay, this was definitely not a good situation.

This man knew he was a devil, which meant he probably already knew about his Sacred Gear… and he didn't have anyone around to help him if things went South.

"Relax," the man that had casually revealed he knew he was a Devil said with his relaxed tone still intact, "we're family... and you're about to enter the family business."

He was seriously beginning to wonder what the family business was if he was so calm around a Devil.

"And what is the family business?" he asked seriously.

"To protect the world from Demons and those that would misuse the power of demons," that statement was a definite surprise to him.

"W-what?" he couldn't quite wrap his head around that, "so you mean you protect the world from Devils?"

"No, not Devils, Demons," he frowned at that claim, he didn't know if there was a difference between devils and demons, "the Devils, Angels, Fallen Angels and other supernatural creatures native to his universe are all a part of the natural order… what we deal with are beings that come from outside of the universe… beings that don't obey the natural order and could potentially cause the end of everything."

Issei had to gulp at that claim.

"But regardless," the man continued, "Kuzunoha Kyouji used to be my body before it was possessed by someone very talented at our trade… I decided we were better off if he kept my body and I jumped between others when needed."

"W-wait… does that mean you're…" Issei found himself gulping at the thought that he was literally in the car with a person possessed by a ghost.

"A disembodied spirit that possesses others," the man stated easily.

Issei really didn't know what to think as he continued to sit in the car.

He knew he was tired but this was just too much and too insane for him to be mishearing or misinterpreting what was being said.

"D-do my parents know?" he asked, curious if they had known more than they let on and had been keeping him in the dark about the supernatural elements of the world intentionally.

"No, they weren't raised as one of us and seem to be content in their ignorance," Sukeroku stated easily, causing Issei to release a sigh of relief.

It seemed he hadn't been lied to by his parents and he found that knowledge relieving.

"You should probably get some more sleep," he found himself looking back at the man, "it'll take a few more hours before we get to the clan compound and you'll need to be awake for the start of your training."

"B-but it only took you an hour to get here?" he was seriously beginning to grow concerned at the current situation but decided that he shouldn't panic.

"I was at the local branch of the Kuzunoha Detective Agency," the purple man stated easily once more, "it is one of many branches throughout the country… where we're going is the main clan compound."

"W-what about Rei-san and Kyouji-san?" it was something that had been bugging him since he met this man, why hadn't the other two shown up?

"They went back nearly two weeks ago to make sure everything is set up in case you changed your mind," the man informed him.

So they left almost immediately after he rejected them.

Issei found himself wondering if they had always expected this to happen… or if they had prepared just in case.

But… he guessed he could do with a bit more sleep.

And so he closed his eyes and soon let sleep take him.

XXX DEVIL SUMMONER: KUZUNOHA RAIDOU AND THE DRAGON OF DRAGONS XXX

"Wake up, we're here," Issei found himself being shaken from his sleep by the man in purple.

Upon opening his eyes, he found himself looking around in confusion before remembering what had happened.

It seemed he was finally at the main Kuzunoha Clan compound.

The first thing he noticed was the fact that he didn't see a building… he saw a mountain.

And it was a massive mountain with steep cliffs and clouds coalescing at the top while a split practically cleaved it in two halfway up.

He could also see a set of stairs carved out of the side and leading upwards.

"Wait… don't tell me…" he just knew where this was going… it was far too obvious.

"Okay, I won't tell you," the purple man stated with a smile before pulling out the small bag that Issei had packed for himself as quietly as he could before leaving, "come on."

And so Issei released another sigh as he proceeded to start following his… he actually wasn't sure how to class Sukeroku's relation to him given what he knew but he was going to follow him anyway… plus it wasn't like this was the first mountain he had climbed for training… and the last time he'd been carrying the luggage for six people.

With those thoughts in his mind, he started jogging with the knowledge that this wouldn't be as bad as the last time he had done this.

He would complete this training… and he would protect Buchou.

XXX DEVIL SUMMONER: KUZUNOHA RAIDOU AND THE DRAGON OF DRAGONS XXX

Rias Gremory found herself slowly rousing from her sleep… until she found herself jerking awake upon realizing she was all alone in bed.

Shooting up, she frantically started to look for Issei.

Yes, he was a pervert, yes he wasn't the brightest tool in the box but he more than made up for all of that with his sheer honesty and strong heart.

Back when all hope was lost, he refused to stand down even when he was already unconscious, he refused to give up simply because _she_ wanted to win.

He had nearly died because of his loyalty to her.

And in the end, he had actually managed to save her from the fate that was to be forced upon her by her family.

But now, she didn't know where he was.

Quickly throwing on a dressing gown, she left the room hoping for some clue about what had happened, at where he might be when she eventually came across a note next to the phone.

It looked like it had been hastily scribbled and she found her fear welling up.

A hastily scribbled note was not a good sign and she opened it, hoping against hope that whatever had happened was something she could deal with.

 _Dear Buchou_

 _I'm sorry about leaving without telling you but I've decided to accept my family's offer._

 _They'll be able to help me train so I'll come back stronger._

 _I swear, I won't fail you again._

 _Issei._

Rias couldn't stop herself from clenching her fist upon reading that letter as she found herself short of breath and her heartrate racing.

Fail her?

It wasn't him that failed her.

It wasn't his fault she lost the Rating Game against Riser.

It was _her_ that failed him.

It was _her_ that nearly got him killed because she underestimated her opponent.

It was _her_ that failed to come up with a strategy that would work against the foe they faced.

And it was _her_ fault that he felt like he had failed her.

Right now she didn't need him to grow stronger for her… right now she needed him to know how much she cared about him, to know how important he was to her.

He needed to know… that she needed him.

Gritting her teeth, she noticed that her eyes had grown wet and wiped them dry before returning to Issei's room with every intention of dressing herself and summoning Issei back to her side.

XXX DEVIL SUMMONER: KUZUNOHA RAIDOU AND THE DRAGON OF DRAGONS XXX

Issei would definitely admit that he was happy he had been training so hard ever since becoming a Devil… it made the trip up the mountain and to the Kuzunoha clan compound far less tiring than it could've been.

However, upon seeing the compound he was awestruck by one thing…

"Amazing! This is just like a ninja clan!" he cried out upon seeing the architecture that just screamed stereotypical ninja anime.

The fact that they were on top of a mountain only helped with that impression.

The Sakura Blossoms that decorated the courtyard gave it a very scenic feel, while the sound of water flowing made it clear to him that there was some method of getting water up here.

The fresh air was also quite a novel feeling, what with how clean it felt whenever he breathed.

"Well, we're not ninja but we do have many secrets that need to be kept safe," Sukeroku said with a small smile of his own.

"So you're finally here Issei," he perked up upon hearing Rei and looked in the direction of it had come from, easily picking up both Rei and Kyouji, "so, what're your impressions Kyouji?"

"I told you, I'm Sukeroku now," the man in purple said before speaking up again, "and he needs a lot of work… getting him to go along with me was scarily easy."

Issei found himself blinking at that statement.

"Wait… do you mean you were lying?" he asked the man who simply shook his head in response.

"No, I only ever told you the truth… but you accepted everything too easily," the pale man's explanation made him feel quite foolish, "especially when you got into a car with a complete stranger."

He found himself cringing at that point.

It really was pretty foolish of him to accept what he was told so easily.

"So he's going to need some serious tutoring if he's to become Raidou?" a new voice spoke up and Issei found himself looking around for the owner, "well… the last time I saw someone that looked pathetic they ended up being the greatest Raidou so far… so I will cut him some slack for now."

"Well, you do have rather high standards Gouto-san," Sukeroku stated with a smile as he looked towards a black cat that was slowly walking towards the group.

"Raidou is a name that demands high standards," Issei almost gaped upon seeing that it was in fact the cat that had spoken.

"I suppose that is true," the purple man stated with his smile still in place, "and Issei-kun has plenty of time to grow into the role."

"Provided he survives the trials," the cat said seriously and Issei found himself freezing.

 _Survive_ the trials?

This definitely did not sound like the sort of training he had been expecting.

"W-wait?! What do you mean survive the trials?" he demanded.

"Less than ten percent of Raidou candidates survive the trial of succession," the cat stated bluntly, "I expect you'll be no different."

He couldn't believe what he was hearing… but he quickly shook his head.

He was a Devil of House Gremory and he wouldn't be defeated by some trial… not when Buchou was relying on him.

"Alright then, where's this trial? I'll survive and show you!" he proclaimed towards the black cat who simply gave him a blank stare before turning back towards the older people.

"Is he seriously a candidate?" the cat asked almost disappointedly.

"The Herald proclaimed him as having the potential," Kyouji claimed with a shrug.

"And if you think he's bad now… well… you'll see," Sukeroku said with an amused smile.

"H-hey! What's that supposed to mean?!" Issei found himself crying out.

"Now, I think we should start on the basic training," the man in purple said with a small smile as he turned towards a large building, "come on Issei-kun."

Issei found himself staring at the man as he started to walk away before he started to try and catch up to him.

"H-hey! Don't just ignore me!"

And once again he was ignored.

XXX DEVIL SUMMONER: KUZUNOHA RAIDOU AND THE DRAGON OF DRAGONS XXX

Rias Gremory stood before the magic circle in the Occult Research Club, prepared to summon Issei back to her side.

She wasn't the only one there, with the rest of the Club assembled as well.

In the end she had just finished explaining the situation to them and had shown them the note that Issei had left for her.

"Buchou, I have to say that I disagree with this," she listened to Kiba as he stood next to their couch.

"What part don't you agree with?" Akeno spoke up and she found herself listening in curiosity.

"Buchou's decision to bring him back," she felt her anger rise.

Issei was valuable to the group as a whole, not just because of his Sacred Gear but because of the sheer fact that he acted with his heart… ever since he had arrived, it had been clear to her that the mood of the club had brightened significantly.

"What do you mean by that?" she tried to keep her voice level but the idea that he didn't want Issei to return to them made it difficult to contain her ire.

"Because it would be cruel to him," she froze at that claim, "he clearly feels like he is a failure, who could blame him after everything that's happened so far."

She gritted her teeth once more.

"He only recently became a Devil and has kept facing opponents older and more powerful than himself," the blond boy continued, "from his perspective he isn't progressing anywhere near as much as he really is."

She calmed herself at that.

Kiba did have a point there.

"And if accepting this offer will give him the confidence he needs to get over our defeat at the Rating Game, then I feel it would be cruel to stop him from partaking in it," she found herself looking at the floor at that explanation.

She truly did need him but it seemed that he needed something to boost his confidence.

But the fact that he would seek out his family instead of her hurt.

That he felt he could gain more from a group of regular humans than from her was painful.

"Why?" she asked herself quietly, "why them?"

"I don't know," the sword wielding knight admitted sadly, "but we should respect his decision."

She looked back at the Magic Circle and thought about what Kiba said…

"Fine… I'll leave him alone… for his sake," and with that decision, she found her heart sinking.

Doing this meant she wouldn't know how he was until he finally returned.

She just hoped he was safe.

XXX DEVIL SUMMONER: KUZUNOHA RAIDOU AND THE DRAGON OF DRAGONS XXX

"Oh great Yatagarasu, I am but your humble servant… please, grant me your blessing so that I may enforce your will upon this world!"

Issei felt like quite an idiot for the 'prayer' he had to make but the Kuzunoha group had told him it was a tradition that was necessary to take the position of Raidou.

The fact that nothing felt different after making the 'prayer' made it clear that it was completely pointless.

And so he turned ready to get on with the proper training.

"AHH!" he immediately fell back upon coming face to face with a beautiful woman with stylish blonde hair that came down to her shoulders.

"Well, it seems like it worked," Sukeroku spoke up with amusement in his tone as the blonde woman practically glided backwards and Issei got to see the woman's body.

And the first thing that popped out to his mind was the massive bat-like wings that erupted from her shoulders.

The second thing was her incredible figure, certainly she didn't have breasts as big as Buchou but they still looked perfect when taken as a whole.

The third thing he noticed was her tail… her long, whip like tail with a heart-shaped tip.

"Is that everything Master?" the woman said in a tone that couldn't possibly be described as anything other than seductive while looking towards Sukeroku.

"Indeed it is," and with that the man in purple revealed what appeared to be a miniature laptop on the end of a gun and pressed a button.

Almost immediately the woman that he could only describe as a real life succubus, burst into light and entered the screen of the strange computer like device.

"W-wha-what was that?!" he found himself asking in shock.

"Well… that was a Succubus," Sukeroku stated easily, "and this is what we call a GUMP… a device that can contract and store demons for us to control."

A device to contract and store demons?

So that meant that Sukeroku had a device that could make a succubus bend to his will?

"WHEN CAN I GET ONE?!" his heart was racing at this knowledge… a device that could literally store a Harem for him!

"I don't approve of that," Gouto stated firmly, causing him to freeze.

He wouldn't get his Harem Machine!

"The previous Raidou did many great things with the traditional methods," the cat continued, "and unlike those… things you use, the Kuda aren't so weak."

"What do you mean?" Issei couldn't stop himself from asking upon hearing that statement from the black cat.

"Those things require the consent of a demon for them to work and even need to be charged up regularly," yeah, that sounded like it made sense, "the traditional Kuda could force a demon into your service and requires no power supply."

"So… how does that work?" he didn't really understand what the cat meant.

"The Kuda sucks a demon into it and forces it to obey you," the cat stated with an easy nod.

Wait… sucked into it…

"Wait! So they're demon pokeballs?!" he asked in surprise.

"Pretty much," Kyouji said in response, "but they're more like DemonTubes."

"…" Issei couldn't say anything.

His heart was racing, his breathing was deep and he had only one thought going through his head.

"T-that means…" he started before his excitement burst out in a wave of uncontrolled enthusiasm, "I CAN CATCH MYSELF A HAREM!"

He noticed the way Sukeroku and Rei sighed at his outburst, the way Kyouji seemed gobsmacked and most importantly… the look of sheer horror on Gouto's face.

"WHAT?!" the cat sounded almost completely offended when it released its cry.

"I… I guess you weren't exaggerating when you said Issei was a complete pervert," Kyouji spoke up earning a pair of exasperated sighs from Sukeroku and Rei.

"A complete, shameless pervert," Rei stated bluntly, "I'm certain an Incubus corrupted him as a child… I'm certain of it."

"B-b-b-but… but for the Raidou name to be passed to a shameless pervert…" Gouto sounded almost like he was about to break down and cry at any moment, "… how far the mighty have fallen."

Issei almost felt bad for the cat but in the end, he was who he was.

"Wait… is that why you chose to show off a Succubus first?" Gouto asked with eyes narrowed in suspicion towards Sukeroku.

"Knowing he could eventually get a Succubus will motivate him," the purple man stated with a grin, "and there's plenty more where that came from."

Plenty more?

"Wait… how many demon women are there?" he decided to ask.

"More than I can count," the pale man said with a grin, "but you know that you'll have to become strong enough to tame them right?"

He had to get strong enough to tame them?

Issei felt a fire ignite in his stomach, a fire almost as strong as the one that had ignited itself within him in preparation for Buchou's rating game.

He would get strong enough to capture himself a demon harem… and it would be the most epic Harem in history!

"What are we waiting for?!" he cried out, "let's start the training already!"

"Follow me," Sukeroku said with a grin on his face as he proceeded to lead the Sekiryuutei towards the real training grounds.

* * *

 **Okay, So here's one of the ideas that ended up erupting on my forum.**

 **Basic gist, Hyoudou Issei is selected as the next Kuzunoha Raidou and finds himself having to deal with threats that exceed anything the DxDverse has ever encountered while simultaneously trying to collect a Demonic Harem and deal with the antics that surround him.**

 **My main goal in this is to keep Issei in character as much as possible while also lumbering him with SMT bullshit that the other members of the Gremory team can do nothing about.**


	3. Rise Of The Winter Lord

**Harry Potter X The Chronicles Of Darkness**

* * *

Harry Potter would admit that so far, his fifth year at Hogwarts was probably his worst year yet and that was honestly saying quite a bit.

After all, he had previously had to deal with possessed Teachers, Trolls, the diary of a dark lord (which was surprisingly dangerous for a book), a basilisk, dementors, time travel, werewolves, dragons, merfolk, acromantula boggarts and a resurrected dark lord and his followers.

So the fact that this year had managed to be even worse than that was really quite something.

And it was all because of two things… Dolores Umbridge and Hogwarts itself.

Umbridge was quite possibly the single most reprehensible person he had ever had the pleasure of meeting, beating even Rita Skeeter, Lucius Malfoy and even Voldemort himself in that category.

After all, at least they generally just tried to attack him on a personal or physical level, while this toady bitch was basically attacking Hogwarts as a whole by sabotaging the Defence Against The Dark Arts class.

That probably pissed him off more than it should but Voldemort was back and everyone needed to prepare.

He definitely felt like he would curse Fudge and the rest of the ministry for covering up Voldemort's return… that is provided he could get away with cursing them.

But in the end, there wasn't really anything he could do to stop them from causing trouble for him or Dumbledore since he was just a teenager and the Ministry had already been doing everything it could to try and discredit him in the eyes of the general populace.

He was drawn out of his musings as he noted something move out of the corner of his eye.

Immediately he turned to look at whatever it was only to be greeted by nothing.

He continued to look around for whatever had moved but soon realized that there was simply nothing there.

"Dammit," he muttered to himself tiredly.

This was becoming a frustratingly common occurrence for him ever since he arrived at Hogwarts, he was certain that someone or something was spying on him but no matter how hard he tried to find his stalker, he always failed to find anything.

Honestly it was making him wonder if he was losing his mind and the Ministry was right to label him as unstable.

That didn't change the fact that Voldemort was back and the only people that were even trying to stop him were Dumbledore and the Order Of The Phoenix.

Shaking his head clear of his paranoid delusions, he proceeded to make his way back to the Gryffindor common room, rubbing the back of his hand all the while.

 _I must not tell lies._

That line that he had been forced to write so many times was causing his temper to flare with every scalpel like incision… honestly he was growing to the point where he was certain he was going to snap and get himself thrown in Azkaban one of these days.

He was once again forced to stop as his ears picked up a faint laughter, however he soon found himself growing relieved as his mind started to recognize the voice.

But he also found himself sinking in despair, after all, today was most certainly not a day where he felt he could deal with Peeves.

"Well well well, if it isn't plodding Potter," Harry found himself frowning at the new nickname Peeves had come up with for him.

"Go away Peeves," he demanded of the Poltergeist who simply laughed in response to his demand.

"All right then plodding Potter," he found his blood run cold as Peeves acknowledged his demand, Peeves _never_ simply accepted what a person had to say, "just know though, we're waiting."

Before he could even open his mouth to ask what the Poltergeist meant it had vanished, leaving him alone in the corridor and with a cold sweat starting to form on his brow.

Whatever Peeves was up to was most certainly not going to be good.

XXX RISE OF THE WINTER LORD XXX

Returning to the Gryffindor common room was simple after that, he hadn't caught anymore movement out of the corner of his eye and Peeves hadn't gotten in his way again.

Honestly that only made him more nervous about whatever the spirit had meant by what it said.

"Harry, are you okay?" he released a sigh when as soon as he entered through the portrait, he was assaulted by Hermione.

"I'm fine Hermione," he lied through his teeth, honestly he didn't feel fine but he didn't want to worry the one person that had stuck by him through thick and thin, "I'm just tired."

"Harry," the bushy haired girl tried to stop him but he walked over to the stairs to the boy's dorms, "you need to tell someone about what she's doing."

"I told you I'm fine," was all he said in response as he made his way to the dorm room and prepared himself to go to sleep.

As he lay down his mind drifted back to Umbridge and how unfair it was to be forced to write 'I must not tell lies' simply _because_ he refused to lie about Voldemorts return.

 _Just know though, we're waiting._

His mind was brought out of its stupor as that statement from Peeves broke back through his subconscious and left him wondering who this _we_ was and just why they were waiting.

That thought stirred his mind and caused sleep to become something out of his reach, something his mind simply couldn't grasp.

His eyes shot open when he started to hear a cacophony of voices from all around him, each one speaking a language he caused his head to hurt.

It was as if he knew this language but it refused to leave his mind and let him know what was being said, just that it was familiar despite him never hearing it before.

"Shut up," he muttered to the empty room and suddenly the noise stopped suddenly, causing him to doubt the presence of the voices in the first place.

In the end though, he turned onto his side and finally let his exhaustion take a hold as he drifted from the world of the living and entered the world of dreams.

XXX RISE OF THE WINTER LORD XXX

Waking up the following morning was an ordeal for Harry as his mind refused to function properly.

He was certain he had experienced a dream, a dream of blood and bone, of hunger and excitement, but he couldn't quite place it in his head.

Internally though, he found himself sighing.

Yet another day of classes, followed by yet another detention with the bitch named Umbridge.

And once again his mind drifted towards Peeves and the ominous words that had escaped the Poltergeists mouth the previous day.

Rising from his bed he proceeded to get dressed and prepared for the rest of the day, silently noting that Ron was still asleep.

He frowned as he thought of his friend, despite every attempt he made to get Ron or Hermione to leave him alone, to let him deal with his problems by himself, they just kept trying to pry.

His fists clenched at that, why was it that they only seemed to care now? Now that they were around they expected him to share everything with them when they were more than happy to keep him in the dark and enjoy their time while he was stuck with the Dursley's.

Shaking his head, he tried to steady his breathing… it wasn't their fault, Dumbledore had made sure they kept him in the dark so that the Order Of The Phoenix wouldn't be discovered.

He had already forgiven them so why did it still anger him whenever he thought about it?

Why was it that his instincts kept howling out to him to just let go and release his anger upon the world?

He honestly couldn't say why it was getting so hard to control his temper but he just _knew_ that if he lost it then nothing would be the same again.

Putting those thoughts to the back of his mind, he left the dorm and made his way to the common room where he was greeted by one of the two people he was trying to avoid.

Honestly he just wanted them to leave him alone, to just let him be, but they refused to do that and he was afraid that one of these days he would snap at them in a way that would destroy their relationship forever.

"Morning Harry," she sounded concerned but he chose to ignore that, she had taken the same tone for several days now and every time it had been because she was concerned about him and how he was dealing with Umbridge and the discrimination he was now facing due to the Ministry being led by a fool that didn't even accept the possibility of Voldemort being back.

"Morning Hermione," he responded blankly as he mentally prepared himself for the rest of the day that was to come.

"Are you sure you're okay?" he grit his teeth at her question, finding it grating on him more than it should as his temper started to flare once again.

"Yes," he almost growled out as his mind returned to the lack of support during his time of duress after the Dementor attack.

Before the bushy haired girl could say anything more, he left the common room and entered the hallway, ready to go to the Great Hall for a much needed breakfast.

XXX RISE OF THE WINTER LORD XXX

The day had passed by just as it normally had, with classes being almost exactly the same as they had throughout the entire year.

He was forced to put up with Umbridge's attempts at sabotaging Defense Against The Dark Arts by restricting their learning to purely theoretical knowledge.

Thankfully the other professors were still more than happy to teach them their subjects properly but that didn't change the fact that students were having their education damaged by the disgusting woman.

None of that changed the fact that he was once again standing outside the classroom that had been taken over by the woman that got under his skin so much, trying to temper his temper for the upcoming detention.

He knocked on the door after he had managed to ready himself as much as possible.

"Come in," the way the sentence was said made his heart race despite his attempts at calming himself, however he opened the door anyway, once again being exposed to the horrific setting filled with Pink, Kittens and pink kittens.

Honestly he wouldn't be so upset with the décor if it wasn't for the fact that it was the polar opposite of the scumbag that was using it in the first place.

"Good evening Mister Potter," her sing song voice grated and he once again bit back his anger at the woman, "please, take a seat."

He tried to ignore his feelings and took a seat as directed before once again finding a sheet of paper and a black quill set before him.

"Now, I'm certain you already know what you need to do," the portly woman stated with a satisfied smirk adorning her lips.

Centering himself he once again picked up the quill and started to write.

 _I must not tell lies._

He gritted his teeth as the quill bit into the back of his hand and opened the scar that had formed from his previous stints of writing.

He wrote the line again and he felt his rage roaring in the back of his mind, demanding release as this vile woman invaded his body and tortured it for no better reason than her own self-satisfaction.

He hesitated writing another line as he tried to get his anger under control, as he tried to stop himself from giving in.

"Mister Potter, if you don't continue writing your lines then you will find yourself facing expulsion instead of just detention," the smug, satisfied manner that the woman made that claim caused his mind to silence.

He needed to get out of here.

He needed fresh air.

He needed to _release_.

He rose from his seat and without thinking he headed towards the door.

This room was too small, the corridor was too small.

His legs picked up speed as he headed outside, as he made his way to freedom… as he made his way to somewhere he could release all his rage.

"Mister Potter!" he ignored the voice behind him, "get back here this instant!"

He wouldn't stop, he couldn't stop.

There was only one thing he could do right now and that was get out of the castle.

The halls were deserted as everyone had returned to their common rooms for the evening but all that did was make it easier for him to make his way outside.

Barreling through the main entrance of the castle, he stumbled out into the grounds, into the open and the clear air that he needed so much as he found himself instinctively looking up.

He couldn't stop himself from staring transfixed at the full moon that hung in the sky even as the creature that had invaded his home came out after him.

"Potter! Come back here right now," he caught what the creature was saying but his mind was too focused on the orb in the sky, "I swear you will be expelled for this!"

The anger that had been swelling up in his gut erupted and all he knew was pain.

He fell to the ground as his body protested everything that he was, as he felt his muscles burn and his bones crack, as he felt his rage flow through him in a horrific and blinding experience.

Turning to face the one that had caused this to happen to him… he could _smell_ her fear.

And with that his world turned to black.

* * *

 **And now, this idea revolves around crossing Harry Potter with The New World Of Darkness RPG.**

 **Basically, Harry Potter awakens as a Chronicles Of Darkness Werewolf and finds that he is now having to deal with a world that had previously been hidden from wizards and the majority of muggles... a world where things such as Soul Eating monsters that stalk through dreams and incite terror wherever they go are actually the _Good Guys_.**

 **Now, this fic would spend very little time at Hogwarts due to the sheer danger he would pose to his friends and would revolve around Harry having to adapt to his new life and learn about the dark corners that exist in the world and deal with the fact that he can no longer work off morality without endangering everyone around him.**


	4. The Fate Of A Hero Complex Overlord

XXX

 _ **This Fanfic Has Now Been Posted**_

XXX


	5. Harry Potter And The Digital Shift

**Harry Potter X Digimon**

* * *

Harry Potter could do little more than release a sigh of defeat as he once again watched Dudley opening the presents for his birthday.

So many packages littered the table that it was unreal, especially given how all of them were for the same spoilt pig in a wig.

He had never once been given a present by the family that was currently gathered around the table and fawning over the blond moron.

Some people might think he was being a bit harsh on his cousin but given that just this very morning Dudley had displayed difficulty counting up to twelve, he was pretty certain the boy was an idiot.

They were nearly eight years old for crying out loud!

Not that he would say that out loud, he was certain he'd get yelled at if he ever insulted his cousin for his lack of intelligence.

Watching the family focus on Dudley and paying him no mind in the corner, he began to wonder if he could leave.

It was possible that his uncle would notice him and confront him about where he was going but if he stayed there then he'd end up being sent to Mrs Figg's house while they went on their trip.

Ever so slowly, he started to inch towards the hallway, closer and closer he got until he had finally left the view of the family and found himself trying to think of where to go from there.

The Cupboard Under The Stairs was his first thought but they'd look there first… then the bathroom… but once again they would check there so that was a no go.

His mind wandered to Dudley's room… no, that was too dangerous… if they ever found him there then he'd be in so much trouble… but they might not expect him to dare going there and not check…

He'd risk it.

He would get in trouble no matter what he did so risking a bit more trouble wasn't going to be much worse than any other option open to him.

Slowly he started to sneak up the stairs, making sure to miss every creaky or loose step on the way… honestly that was one of the advantages of sleeping under them… he knew from experience which steps to avoid if he didn't want to make any noise.

Eventually he made it to his cousin's room and was greeted by the sight of all the junk the other boy in the house had been given over the years.

He felt a longing for such a room well up inside him, to have a place filled with presents from his parents just like this.

"Where's the boy?!" he heard his uncle call from downstairs and felt his heart starting to race as he found himself worrying about how long it would be before he was found out.

He continued to listen as he heard his relatives moving around downstairs, clearly growing angry at his lack of presence there.

But he didn't want to go to Mrs Figg's house!

She was weird, her house always smelled strange and he was certain those cats of hers were watching him.

He soon found his pulse race even further as he made out the pounding footsteps of his uncle coming up the stairs.

"I swear, if that boy is in Dudders room…" he could hear his uncle muttering in clear anger and started to look for a place to hide, this wasn't worth it after all!

Looking around he saw that the bed had drawers underneath it, meaning there was nowhere to hide there and on top of that there wasn't anything large enough to hide him without being moved…

He was doomed.

Looking around he saw his Cousin's Nintendo Entertainment System and found himself thinking about how nice it would be if the worlds in those games he'd heard about were real… and how nice it would be to be able to jump into one of them right now.

He closed his eyes as he heard his uncle reach the door and wished he could hide in the console.

Time seemed to freeze as he heard a faint crack and waited for his uncle to enter the room, it felt like an eternity had passed but still nothing happened.

Slowly, he found himself opening one of his eyes in a nervous attempt at seeing what had happened.

Almost immediately he fell backwards in shock at what he was seeing.

The world was black.

But beyond simply being black, there were light blue lines that littered the area, moving like pulses while clearly making out the image of something at least similar to the ground.

Looking down he saw that he was standing on the very same type of area the blue lines made.

It made him swallow in nervousness as he came to realise that he was definitely not in Dudley's bedroom anymore.

Honestly, everything around him looked almost like it came from one of those computers he had seen at school.

His mind froze at that thought.

This reminded him of a computer, a game console was a type of computer and the last thing he remembered was thinking about how nice it would be to hide in the console.

Was it possible? Had he actually managed to enter his cousin's game console?

Until now he would have thought such a thing was impossible but what he was seeing right now was really making him reconsider such a thing.

He knew he would have to return at some point but for now, he would have to wait for his uncle to give up trying to find him before he returned.

Plus, he didn't really know how he was supposed to return to his own world in the first place.

Regardless, he started to walk along the light blue path, wondering what he would find in this place… if anything at all.

Oh well, he had time to kill so he'd just wander for now.

XXX HARRY POTTER AND THE DIGITAL SHIFT XXX

Harry had to admit, this place was pretty samey wherever he went.

"This is boring," he muttered out loud after once again seeing the same thing with no real change.

"Really?" an unfamiliar voice called from behind him and making him cry and turn around in surprise.

What he saw wasn't something he had expected.

It was short, shorter than he was and despite having a rather human like shape, it looked far more like a plant than a person, what with the green skin, the leaf like arms and the large Lily-like flower blooming on the top of its head.

However, the most important part of this strange creature was the expression on its face, it looked almost as shocked as he was.

"H-hey? Are you all right?" it asked him and he found himself relaxing a little as he realised that this thing was clearly not going to pull a Ripper and attack him.

"Y-yeah," he stuttered out as he regained his composure, "I just didn't see you there."

It was true, he had been shocked by this creature's sudden appearance and despite what he had heard in school, this little plant like creature didn't seem harmful.

"Sorry," he found himself thinking that it sounded honest so he found himself offering it a smile.

"It's okay," he assured the little plant like creature before holding his hand out in the gesture for a handshake, "I'm Harry."

"I'm Palmon," the green creature responded with a sense of enthusiasm as they took his hand and shook it happily, "uh… are you a human?"

Harry found himself being slightly surprised by the question before shaking his head clear of those thoughts.

"Yeah, that's right!" he admitted with enthusiasm before seeing the plant like creature brighten up at that.

"Wow! I've never seen a real human before!" the plant seemed to be incredibly happy at the revelation that he was indeed a human.

"So, um… what are you?" he asked hoping it wasn't going to offend the creature before him.

Judging by the way it's head tilted in a confused manner, he guessed it wasn't offended.

"I'm a Digimon," it sounded like that should explain everything to him but he found himself looking down in defeat.

"Sorry, I've never heard of Digimon before," he admitted to the small creature.

"Really?" it sounded surprised by his admission but shook its own head before speaking once again, "well, we're monsters that live in the Digital World."

That, was a surprisingly simple explanation and he found himself just nodding in acceptance.

It made sense that he would meet some sort of Digital Monster here in what looked like Digital Space but it didn't change one very simple matter.

"So, this is the Digital World," he said as he looked around at the vast area of blue and black.

"Nah," he looked back at Palmon and blinked, "this is more like the digital space inside a human object."

Well, that just went to make it more obvious that this was likely his cousin's game console.

"Oh, okay then," he found himself accepting the situation pretty quickly before focusing on something else, "so is it just you in here?"

"Nope, there's a couple of Salamon here too," the plant like creature stated with a happy tone.

Harry found himself wondering what Salamon were and if they were going to be as nice as Palmon seemed to be.

The plant like creature seemed to think for a few seconds before nodding its head.

"Okay! Let's go find them!" Harry found himself blinking at Palmon's decision before finding his hand being grabbed by the little monster and being dragged away much to his surprise.

"Are you sure that's a good idea?" he asked uncertainly.

"Why wouldn't it be?" the green creature asked in clear confusion.

"W-well, they might not like me," he responded remembering how the Dursley's and most other people generally reacted to him.

That seemed to make the little creature stall and scrunch its face up in confusion.

"Why wouldn't they?" it seemed genuinely confused by his concern.

"Most people don't," he answered honestly, unsure of whether or not it would change this creature's opinion on him.

"But you seem nice enough to me," once more the creature sounded confused and Harry found himself smiling at the easy way it admitted that.

"Thanks," it was honestly quite refreshing to meet someone who didn't seem to have anything against him… but then again, Palmon hadn't met the Dursley's.

"Come on, let's go find the others!" and without any further ado, he once again found himself being dragged by the small flower monster.

XXX HARRY POTTER AND THE DIGITAL SHIFT XXX

Harry found himself wondering if the little plant like creature even knew where it was taking him as he passed yet another place that looked exactly like everywhere else in this strange world.

Despite walking with Palmon for some time, they hadn't come across the other Digimon that lived in this area despite her insistent claims that she knew where they were.

Honestly he didn't even know where _he_ was right now since everything looked the same and he was certain he'd seen repeating patterns in their hunt.

"There they are!" the green creature spoke up excitedly before pointing forwards, "I told you I knew where they were!"

Harry was about to respond when he caught sight of the other Digimon and noticed how they looked like puppies.

He found himself feeling somewhat nervous at that, he had never really had a good relationship with any dogs, then again, the dogs he'd met had all been raised by Aunt Marge.

And that woman was the single most vile person he had ever met.

He wanted to leave, to ignore the pair of puppies but he quickly found himself being dragged forwards towards the pair by an enthusiastic plant monster.

"Wha-what are you doing?!" he asked, causing Palmon to stop and the duo of puppies to look at him.

"Hiya Palmon!" one of the puppies _spoke_ much to his surprise as they started bounding over to him and the green creature with a plant on its head, "who's that?"

"This is Harry," the creature with a Lily on its head stated with enthusiasm, "he's a real human!"

"Really?" one of the puppies asked with a hint of uncertainty in its tone while the other just gave what appeared to be a snort before prancing towards him and speaking.

"Hello human," Harry found himself blinking in uncertainty as the puppy continued, "I am Salamon, you may pet me now."

He honestly didn't know what to do right now.

This puppy seemed like it wasn't going to bite him but it also sounded rather… demanding at the same time.

"He doesn't look happy," the other puppy spoke out earning the attention of the first.

"What are you talking about?" the first asked with clear dissatisfaction, "you heard that human's love puppies… and we're like puppies, so he should be happy to pet me."

It was a clear bit of logic that didn't really apply to him but he decided to risk doing what the rather pushy creature wanted and put his hand on the back of its head between its ears and started to rub.

"See," the creature responded with an air of smugness to it as he started to pet it uncertainly, causing the other puppy to shake its head with a sigh before moving towards him in a much more hesitant manner.

"Are you all right?" the puppy asked him and he found himself looking away as he remembered that so far, these puppies weren't acting like Aunt Marge's.

"S-sorry," he proceeded to say before anything else escaped his lips, "I just… I just don't really like dogs."

"WHAT?!" the pushier of the two cried out with clear offense at what he just admitted.

"Why?" the calmer one asked him with nothing more than a curious tone in its voice.

"W-well… my Aunt Marge has dogs," he decided to just be honest with them, "they always bite me."

"O-oh…" the calmer of the two responded uncertainly, "in that case… just remember, we're not dogs, we're Digimon."

His eyes widened at that simple point. Despite how they looked, these two _weren't_ puppies and so he didn't have to worry about them acting like Marge's dogs.

"So… what're you doing here anyway?" Palmon finally asked and he found himself blinking as he tried to figure it out himself.

"I don't know," he had no idea how he could be here but for some reason he was, "I was just hiding from my Uncle."

"Why were you hiding?" the nicer puppy asked with a frown, causing him to look away.

"My uncle doesn't like me," he admitted to the creatures that had been rather nice so far.

"Eh? But you seem nice enough," the plant like creature sounded confused and he found himself looking further down at that.

"Do you know what you did?" the less pushy of the two puppy-like Digimon asked while the other frowned.

"No… he's just always hated me," Harry found himself telling the creatures.

"This… uncle, thing of yours doesn't sound nice at all," the more forward of the puppies said with a frown, earning a pair of agreements from the other two.

"T-thanks," he found himself relaxing as he listened to the creatures take his side… he'd never seen anything take his side over his uncles before.

"Just keep scratching," the puppy he was currently petting demanded with an air of superiority, causing him to release a bit of a chuckle as he redoubled his efforts.

XXX HARRY POTTER AND THE DIGITAL SHIFT XXX

Time seemed to fly by as Harry spent time with the trio of Digimon.

They were all so much nicer to him than any humans ever were and he found himself feeling lighter and happier the more time he spent in their company.

There was one major issue for him though.

"Wait… so you're both called Salamon?" he didn't understand how the two could figure out who was who if they both had the same name.

"Yes, that's right," the more soft spoken of the two puppy-like Digimon said with a nod of acknowledgement.

"But then, how do you know who's who?" he asked them with confusion clear in his tone.

The trio just looked at him like he was asking something ridiculous.

"Well… there's only three of us so it's pretty obvious who's who," Palmon stated blankly, causing Harry to release a sigh at that answer.

"… I don't like it," he admitted bluntly.

"But we're Salamon," one of the Salamon stated with a confused frown, "what else would we be called?"

Harry frowned as he thought it over before pointing towards the more outspoken of the Salamon.

"You're Lucinda," he stated firmly, earning a couple of blinks off the puppy like creature as he moved his finger to point towards the other Salamon, "you're Michelle and Palmon is Lily!"

The trio seemed to blink at that exclamation before Palmon grinned in amusement.

"Okay! I'm game!" the plant like monster called out easily.

"I… guess it's okay," the quieter of the two Salamon admitted quietly.

The last member of the trio seemed unsure of how to respond but eventually released a breath and replying.

"I suppose it will help distinguish myself from the other Salamon out there," there was a certain hint of pride in its voice as it made that claim and Harry found himself grinning in response to them all accepting the names he had pulled from the top of his head.

Or in Palmon's case, _its_ head.

His smile soon dropped when he felt his stomach protest.

"Uh…" it was all he could really say as he was reminded that he hadn't eaten for a possibly a few hours.

"What's wrong?" the newly named Lily asked him with a frown.

"Sorry… just hungry," he admitted, causing the plant like Digimon to freeze in place as the other two also proceeded to copy that action.

"Yeah… we've not really found anything to eat since we got stuck here," the newly dubbed Lucinda admitted with a glance to the side.

Harry quickly found himself growing more dejected as he thought about what that meant.

He couldn't stay here.

He also couldn't leave the trio in this place if they were going to starve.

But how could he get out?

He was pretty sure all he did before was wish really hard that he could hide in his cousin's game console and he had ended up here.

Maybe wishing really hard to be back in his cupboard would let him appear there?

"Uh… I want to try something," he decided to speak up, drawing the attention of the trio, "c-can I hold you?"

The reactions he received were definitely mixed as Michelle proceeded to move towards him slowly, as if to make sure she didn't catch him off guard, Lily tilted her head to the side in confusion and Lucy…

"Why?" the louder of the two Salamon asked with a frown, "just because I'm soft and cuddly doesn't mean you can hug me whenever you like."

"Uh…" he honestly didn't know how to respond to that claim but he shook his head to try and clear it of any confusion, "I wanted to try and get us out of here."

The trio blinked at his claim.

"Why didn't you just say so?" the pushiest of the group asked with a frown as it moved towards him and let him hold it, "now hurry up and get us out of here."

He was about to mention the problem he just noticed… namely that he only had two hands, before he found Palmon's arms wrapped around his shoulders.

"Is this okay?" the plant like creature asked him easily.

"Yeah," he admitted as he considered how nice it was to be wrapped in such a friendly way.

Once he was comfortable, he closed his eyes and imagined the safest place he could think of and began to wish he was there, that he could be there and get some food.

That he could return to _his_ cupboard under the stairs.

He knew it was weird for him to be so focused on his cupboard but it was the place he felt most at home, it was the place that was his after all.

And between some random place where he didn't know if there was any food, and the cupboard where he knew he could at least try and sneak into the kitchen at night…

He would pick the cupboard any day.

His mind was drawn by a noticeable crack happening around him and he opened his eyes only to see he was just where he wanted to be.

"Wow!" Lily piped up as he looked at the inside of his cupboard once again, "where are we?"

"My cupboard," he admitted as he saw that the trio were indeed with him and currently occupying his bed alongside him.

He released a sigh of relief as he listened for any indication of his relatives, wondering if they had left or were still hunting for him.

"So this is your place?" the one he'd named Lucy asked with a raised eyebrow, "pretty small isn't it?"

"Ssh!" the other Salamon shot a clear indication to be quiet to the other of its kind but Harry simply let out a humourless chuckle.

"Lucy's right," he admitted unhappily, "my relatives don't like me so they gave me the smallest room in the house."

The Digimon seemed to go quiet at that admission but he decided to take a breath and tell them another important point.

"My Aunt and Uncle also hate everything that they don't think is normal," he stated seriously, "so make sure they don't see you… no matter what."

"But what if they attack you?" the plant like Digimon asked with a frown.

"They won't hurt me too much," he admitted, despite how much he hated his life here, he at least knew the worst that would happen would be that he'd get a bruise and even that was unlikely.

It was far more likely that he'd just have trouble sitting for an hour or two.

"Now, I think they're gone… so let's go and get something to eat while we can," he decided as he opened the door and prepared to raid the kitchen with his new friends.

XXX HARRY POTTER AND THE DIGITAL SHIFT XXX

Harry could do little more than flinch when he sat down on his bed.

Uncle Vernon was definitely not happy when he had come home and found him there… and with a noticeably emptier kitchen as well.

The punishment had hurt but for once he didn't regret it.

For one thing, he had managed to avoid getting stuck with Mrs Figg for the day, he had managed to get something good to eat and beyond that…

He had actually managed to make friends.

"H-hey… are you okay?" a quiet voice from underneath his bed asked before the trio proceeded to come out from their hiding place beneath it.

Sure it wasn't the best hiding place around… but his Aunt and Uncle generally didn't bother looking under it.

"Yeah," he admitted without hesitation, "today was so worth it."

That seemed to make the trio blink in confusion.

"I mean, I got out of going to Mrs Figg's and I got to meet you three," he couldn't stop the smile that plastered itself on his face at that admission.

"Of course," Lucy spoke up with a puffed out chest, "today must have been the best day of your life."

There was a clear pride in her statement but Harry found himself simply agreeing with the puppy like monster.

"Yeah, it definitely was."

* * *

And that's it for the first chapter of this idea.

Okay... this idea is the fault of blarg7865.

If it wasn't for him convincing me to get Digimon Cyber Sleuth, then this idea would've never come around.

Then again, it wasn't exactly hard and only really needed two words for me to buy it.

Yandere Lilymon.

I've always had a soft spot for Lilymon ever since I first saw it in the first season of Digimon back when it was first aired in the UK when I was a kid.

Anyway... this idea started off very simply and would've never reached proper WIP status on my forum if things didn't branch out and develop it's own potential story.

Unfortunately, most of the conversation on my forum concerning it focuses on later years since that's when things would be getting most interesting.

Until next time...

Shadow out.


	6. Fate: Fake Apprentice

**Fate/Stay Night X Fate/Prototype**

* * *

"Are you sure we should be doing this Mitsuzuri-san?" Shirou found himself asking as he was dragged along by a brown haired girl that had decided to befriend him when he joined up with the Archery Club.

"Yep," she responded easily as she practically dragged him into an apartment block, "that girl is too much of a shut in for us to just leave her alone."

"That's my point," he said bluntly. He hadn't really interacted with the girl they were going to see but he got the impression that she wouldn't appreciate this visit, "besides, I don't think you should be dragging me to a girl's house anyway."

"Well, you're nice and non-threatening, so you're the number one choice for convincing her it's all right to leave that apartment of hers every now and then," the girl answered back easily and Shirou found himself frowning at that.

He didn't know if she had just complimented or insulted him.

"I get the feeling that's not the problem," he muttered under his breath.

The girl he was currently being dragged to did not look like she liked people much at all.

It didn't take long for him to get shoved on the elevator as Mitsuzuri pressed the button for the eleventh floor and soon he found himself outside the second room of the apartment as Mitsuzuri rang the bell.

Well, it wasn't like he wanted to be here but he hadn't really been given much of a choice in the matter all things considered.

Time passed by slowly as Shirou found himself waiting despite his misgivings… before the girl that dragged him there in the first place rang the bell again… and again… and then simply held the button down.

"Mitsuzuri-san, don't you think that's enough?" he asked her with a frown before hearing a click at the lock and seeing the door open a crack to reveal part of the occupant's face.

She was a rather normal looking girl with shoulder length black hair and a pair of glasses that emphasised a pair of bright blue eyes and most importantly, an extremely annoyed expression on her face.

"Leave me alone Mitsuzuri," she stated bluntly before closing the door in their faces.

"See," he said bluntly to the girl that had dragged him there.

Her response though, was to simply grin and press the button down again.

"Go away," an irritated voice called out from behind the door… though Mitsuzuri refused to release the button.

"Uh… Mitsuzuri-san… don't you think you're going a bit too far?" he asked her with a frown.

"Nope," she answered without hesitation, "if this hikikomori refuses to let us in then I'm just going to have to do this until she gives up."

Shirou didn't know how to respond to that answer.

He just knew it would be annoying if someone he didn't want to see refused to give up their attempts to get him to let them in so why couldn't Mitsuzuri realise that as well?

Eventually though, the door opened and the occupant looked genuinely pissed off now.

"I said, leave me alo-ah!" the girl started only to find herself failing to block the brown haired archer from entering her apartment and giving a whistle.

"Nice place you've got here," she said with a smile, "come on Emiya, don't stand out there all day!"

Shirou found himself facepalming at the girl's statement before releasing a sigh and looking at the girl that was apparently in Mitsuzuri's class.

"I'm very sorry for Mitsuzuri-san's actions," he spoke formally before finding himself dragged in the apartment by a rather forceful clubmate.

Eventually he was forced onto the sofa while constantly looking at the owner of the apartment and how she kept trying to get Mitsuzuri to leave… she didn't seem to have as big a problem with him given how he was actively trying to leave and take the force of nature with him… but he wasn't being very successful.

"Fine!" the girl who he had been told was named Sajyou Ayaka finally gave him, "just today… just today you can stay for an hour… no longer!"

The grin that Mitsuzuri gave at that declaration was obviously a victorious one and Shirou found himself disagreeing wholeheartedly with the way she went about forcing herself into Sajyou-san's apartment.

Time crept by slowly as he noted the way Sajyou was constantly fidgeting and looking at the clock… clearly she wasn't comfortable with having another person in her home.

But every time he tried to leave, Mitsuzuri would stop him, clearly she thought that exposure to people in her personal space was necessary to get over her introverted qualities.

There was something he needed to ask though.

"Uh… Sajyou-san," he spoke up and she turned her clearly irritated attention towards him, "is it all right with you if I get a glass of water?"

"F-fine," she still sounded irritated but didn't deny him.

"Thank you," he said as he stood up and deciding to search for the kitchen.

"Hey, Emiya, get me one too," Mitsuzuri called out and he gave a nod of defeat before making his way to the rooms.

Looking at the first room he noted that it was a bathroom before moving past the next room since it was obviously not going to be the kitchen.

… he had to blink at that thought.

Why was he so certain it wasn't going to be the kitchen?

Moving back towards it he found himself once again deciding it wasn't worth checking out when his blood ran cold and a feeling of shock traced through him.

At least he now knew that it wasn't the kitchen.

It didn't take long for him to reach the kitchen and get a couple of glasses of water for himself and Mitsuzuri.

However now he found himself far more uncomfortable than before as time seemed to crawl by at a snail's pace.

Mitsuzuri continued to try and make Sajyou open up with practically no success before they began to get close to the time when they were going to leave.

"Sorry, but I've got to use the toilet," and without any hesitation, his clubmate made her way to the toilet.

He could tell that the person he was now alone with still wasn't anywhere near happy with the situation but he decided to take a risk.

"Sajyou-san," he said to draw her attention, "I'm sorry about Mitsuzuri-san and everything we've forced on you today… I would've probably tried harder to stop her from coming here if I had known."

That seemed to make her frown with a hint of confusion.

"Known?" she seemed to fish for what he meant but he wasn't planning on obscuring the fact he knew from her.

"About the bounded field over the first room on the left," her eyes widened in realisation but she quickly returned to her frowning state.

"So you're a magus too," she said quietly, "but you misunderstand… I just like having my own private space where I don't have to worry about anyone."

Shirou found himself blinking in surprise at that… it seemed he was wrong about the reason for her being a recluse.

"Still, I never realised you were a magus," her statement was clear as she looked at him again, "I can't sense a hint of prana coming off you."

"Well, I haven't made my circuits yet," he stated easily.

Her reaction confused him.

"You haven't _made_ your circuits yet?" she asked while frowning before her eyes widened in disbelief, "don't tell me you use your nerves!"

She seemed shocked as she said that but he just nodded in acknowledgement before the conversation was interrupted by the bathroom door opening.

"All done!" and with that call, Mitsuzuri walked out into the room and looked at the time with a grimace, "uh… so it's that time already huh?"

"Yes," Sajyou responded easily, "now leave… and don't come back."

"Come on, it's not that bad having us here is it?" Mitsuzuri asked with a hint of amusement.

"Yes it is," Sajyou answered without hesitation or even the slightest trace of humour, "now leave."

"Come on Mitsuzuri," Shirou found himself being significantly firmer this time, "it's time to go."

It took longer to get his clubmate out of the apartment than he was comfortable with but at least they had come out of the situation alive.

XXX XXX

"Emiya-san," a bespectacled boy who he had met at the start of the year named Ryuudou Issei spoke up at the start of lunch, "there is someone asking for you outside."

Shirou found himself blinking in confusion at that before looking towards the door and noting Sajyou Ayaka standing there.

He found himself swallowing nervously as he thanked Issei for the message and made his way over to the girl.

"Hello Sajyou-san," he said politely, uncertain of what she wanted to see him for, "you asked to see me?"

"Hello Emiya-san… do you have your lunch?" she asked him and he pulled out the bento he had made earlier, "I need to speak with you… the roof should be a good place."

He found himself blinking at that but proceeded to follow her up and onto the roof before she found a corner to sit down at before appearing to focus and set up some type of bounded field.

It was rather confusing but he followed her example and sat down as well.

"I'm sorry about yesterday… but I'm not comfortable when people invade my space," she started off and Shirou found himself blinking before shaking his head.

"No, I'm sorry for letting things get so far," he responded easily.

"Okay… but our conversation was interrupted yesterday," she decided to continue and he found himself looking at her, "who taught you how to use magecraft?"

Shirou found himself frowning at her but it wasn't like the truth could hurt any.

"My dad… well, my adopted dad anyway," he corrected himself.

"And he taught you to turn your nerves into Magic Circuits?" she sounded almost concerned.

"Not really… it's the only way I could get it to work though," he admitted with a shrug.

"And he never corrected you?" she sounded almost horrified, "so he didn't care that you were damaging your body every time you practiced magecraft."

That made Shirou frown.

"But how else am I supposed to use it?" he asked the girl who simply released a sigh.

"What is your success rate?" she asked before continuing without giving him a chance to really reply, "I'm guessing it's terrible."

Shirou couldn't deny that so he simply kept quiet.

Silence reigned between them for a few minutes as Sajyou looked at him with a frown before eventually releasing a sigh.

"Okay… I have an offer for you," she spoke and he found himself looking at her with a frown of his own, "I will be prepared to take you as my apprentice… in exchange, all your lessons will happen at your residence, you stay away from my apartment and you support me when I need it... how does that sound to you?"

Shirou found himself looking at her in shock at that offer.

It was definitely one he wanted to take, the chance to become a legitimate apprentice to someone that was willing to teach him properly was something he hadn't expected to ever happen to him.

There was one issue with that though…

"Are you sure?" he asked her with a frown.

"No, but I can't just sit back and watch you kill yourself trying to use magecraft with no idea what you're doing," she stated bluntly, "and I doubt the Second Owner would have the time to teach you… especially if you don't have any real lineage to speak of."

Shirou found himself frowning at that phrase, 'second owner'… it just showed that he still had a lot that he needed to learn but there was another problem.

"Sorry, but my legal guardian will probably show up and she doesn't know about magecraft," he pointed out with a frown of his own.

"That's fine, I can easily hypnotise her if I need to," the bespectacled girl admitted with a shrug.

"Wait… if you can hypnotise people then why didn't you just hypnotise me and Mitsuzuri to leave you alone yesterday?" he asked in confusion.

"Because Mitsuzuri Ayako is a friend of the second owner and I'd rather not risk doing anything to her when I don't know how the second owner will react to it," okay, that made at least some sense.

"Does that mean Mitsuzuri-san knows about the existence of magecraft?" he decided to ask, wondering if he had judged the girl wrong.

"No, she's just a normal human so we have to be careful about keeping her in the dark," Sajyou responded calmly.

Shirou simply nodded in acknowledgement of that statement.

"Okay, I'll be sure to stay quiet around her," he said without hesitation.

"Good," the bespectacled girl acknowledged without hesitation, "now, are you a member of any clubs?"

"I joined the Archery Club, that's how I know Mitsuzuri-san," he answered easily.

"Then you'll have practice today," the girl frowned before turning to him, "can you give me your address and any actions needed to bypass whatever bounded fields surround your property?"

"Ah, there's only one bounded field around my house," he admitted with a hint of embarrassment, "I've never managed to make my own and my dad only set up an intent field."

He noted the way she seemed to blink in surprise at that claim.

"That's… not a lot," she seemed almost concerned by the lack of defences his house possessed but he simply shrugged.

"It was never meant to be a workshop or anything, it was always supposed to be a home so I guess he didn't want it to stick out," he admitted with a hint of embarrassment.

"Is that so…" she seemed unsure of how to respond to his statement but took a deep breath before continuing, "so I don't have to worry about any bounded fields… can you give me your address?"

"Ah, yeah," he found himself listing off his address and describing his home to the girl who nodded firmly in response, "so… when are you planning on having our first lesson?"

"Tonight after you get back from Archery Practice," she answered him easily, causing him to blink in surprise, "I have some preparations to make before I can start teaching you practically but we can at least see how much you know about the theoretical and political side of things before then."

Shirou found himself wondering just what she meant by preparations but he wasn't going to say no to the chance to learn about how magi operated… he didn't even know who was and wasn't a magus in his own city and the chance to rectify that was something he would be more than happy to take.

"Thank you Sajyou-san," he proceeded to say gratefully, if she was being honest right now then there was a chance that he might actually be capable of improving his craft.

"… Just try not to disappoint me," she said with a defeated sigh as they proceeded to start eating their lunch.

XXX XXX

Shirou couldn't stop himself from sighing tiredly as he returned home from Archery Practice.

Honestly, it wasn't a bad thing, he didn't really have to try particularly hard at it or anything else… but dealing with Mitsuzuri Ayako, Matou Shinji _and_ Fujimura Taiga at the same time could be difficult.

Opening the front door, he found himself entering the living room and immediately noticing the person that he was expecting.

"Good evening Sajyou-san," he spoke plainly, "do you want anything to eat or drink?"

She blinked at him a few times in response before responding.

"Do you have any English Tea?" she asked him and he nodded his head in confirmation, "white, two sugars thank you."

Shirou quickly found himself preparing a couple of cups for both himself and Sajyou before sitting down opposite the girl who gracefully accepted the cup with a clear 'thank you'.

It was quite the refreshing change to the woman he usually passed drinks to.

"Before we start with the lessons," she spoke up and Shirou focused his attention on her, "can you take me to your workshop?"

"Ah, y-yeah," he spoke up easily before leading the way to the shed he used to practice his magecraft, "here it is."

"… this is it?" she didn't sound even remotely impressed but released a sigh before performing some magic that Shirou couldn't recognise but assumed was probably some kind of bounded field given that she seemed to be anchoring it an object at the very least.

"There… that will do to keep your guardian out until you start learning how to erect your own bounded fields," she admitted before looking around and releasing a sigh, "I take it you don't have a desk or chair in here do you?"

"Ah, no… sorry," he responded apologetically, "I'll see what I can do about it."

His admission caused her to release a sigh before taking one of the unused towels and laying it on the stairs with a defeated air about her… prompting him to simply kneel on the floor.

"Now, first things first, what do you know about Magus society?" she asked him firmly and he found himself thinking of everything he had ever heard before admitting to himself that he really didn't know anything all things considered.

"Just that there is the Mage's Association and that they do everything they can to hide the existence of magecraft from the public eye," it was a very limited amount of information but that was all he could say.

"… is that it?" the black haired girl sounded almost disbelieving but he nodded in confirmation, "so… you don't even know about the Clock Tower, The Sea of Estray or Atlus?"

Shirou could do little more than shake his head in the negative, causing the girl to take a deep breath before sighing.

"They are the three major branches of the Mage's Association," she stated and he found himself taking that information in, "the Clock Tower has a… somewhat strong presence here… for Japan anyway."

"What do you mean?" it was a bit confusing for him but it was definitely something that would be worth knowing.

"The Clock Tower has very little influence in Asia as a whole due to philosophical differences," she answered with little difficulty, "however the second owner of this city is a member so their influence can be felt here."

And again, that phrase came up.

"Sajyou-san… you keep mentioning a 'second owner'… but what is that exactly?" he may have had a guess as to what it meant but then again, he wasn't sure how close that would be given how little he knew of magi society as a whole.

"Every area has an overseer who tries to keep the existence of magic as secret as possible," her answer was pretty obvious but it did explain why his father had been so focused on making sure he knew to keep his magecraft a secret, "it is generally a hereditary position, the Second Owners of Fuyuki for example have been the Tohsaka family for the past couple of hundred years."

"Tohsaka?! As in Tohsaka Rin?" he couldn't stop himself from expressing surprise at that, he may not have really met Tohsaka Rin but he knew of her given how even though they had just started high school, she had already managed to position herself as the school idol.

"Yes," Sajyou answered easily, "she's the last of the Tohsaka family from what I'm aware."

Shirou honestly found himself having to let that sink into his head.

"Then there is of course, the other long standing magus family of Fuyuki, the Makiri, though they go by Matou these days," yet another name he was familiar with due to school.

"So Shinji's a magus?" he found himself thinking with a frown before noting the way Sajyou seemed to snort in amusement at that.

"He might _think_ he's the heir of the family but everyone who knows anything can tell you his little sister is the real heir," she stated with amusement in her tone, "he probably has less magical ability than you do right now."

Shirou honestly didn't know how to take that statement.

"Outside of the magi that live in this city there is also Kotomine Kirei at the church," she continued, causing him to return his attention to what she was saying, "he's a former Executor and participated in the Fourth Holy Grail War but that's about all I know about him."

"Holy Grail War?" Shirou found his attention drawn by that phrase.

"We'll cover that later," the bespectacled girl stated firmly, "we have to make sure you know the basics of the local political landscape before going into larger topics."

He found himself somewhat disappointed with that but nodded in acknowledgement.

She was the one that knew what she was doing so he would just have to trust her.

XXX XXX

Time passed by quickly for Shirou as he tried to memorize all the information that was passed onto him concerning the city he lived.

By the end of the lecture, he found himself coming to a clear and definite conclusion.

That he would need to get proper equipment so he could take notes and store them safely.

"And that should be enough for an introduction," the bespectacled girl finished up, causing Shirou to nod in acceptance.

"Okay," he started to move from his kneeling position before asking something that had been niggling at the back of his mind ever since she had mentioned she would take him as an apprentice, "anyway… you said you needed a few days before you started to teach me anything practical… can you tell me why?"

"I need to prepare a potion," she admitted without hesitation, "I need to give you something to try and open whatever magic circuits you have but it'll take a few days to get it ready."

"And what if I don't have any?" he decided to ask her. It was something he had always assumed, that he didn't have any and that that was why he had always used his nerves instead.

"You have them," she stated firmly, "otherwise you wouldn't be capable of making them out of your nerves."

"Really? That's good to hear," he admitted with a sigh of relief.

"Well, I think it would make sense for us to wait until I've finished the potion before we have another lesson," the black haired girl stated, earning a nod of acceptance from Shirou.

"Okay, I'll see about getting this place better set up for lessons," he stated, earning a nod in response.

"You do that," she encouraged him as she proceeded towards the door, "another thing, don't try using magecraft with your nerves again… one wrong move and you can kill it permanently… and doing that to too many nerves could leave you crippled… or worse."

The way she made that claim caused him to swallow nervously.

He had never been told that part before and it was honestly rather scary.

"O-okay," he acknowledged, it would mean he could get an early night for a change but that was about it.

"Now, I really have to go home," she stated before opening the door to leave.

"Ah, are you sure you don't want to stay for dinner?" he asked as he thought about what he would have to do now that the lesson was over.

She seemed to freeze for a second before continuing on.

"… I'm fine," she spoke uncertainly.

"Are you sure? I'm going to have to prepare dinner anyway so it won't be a problem," he told her calmly causing her to face him with a frown.

" _You_ are going to have to prepare it?" she sounded confused as she asked for clarification, "doesn't your guardian feed you?"

Shirou couldn't stop himself from snorting at that.

"Fuji-nee can't cook to save her life," he stated bluntly, "so I have to do it all myself."

She seemed to think it over before an all too familiar voice resounded from just outside the house.

"SHIROU!" the cry was immense and angry, prompting Shirou to look in the direction and see an irate Tiger storming his way.

"F-Fuji-nee," he had completely forgotten that this was likely to happen so he quickly found himself flat footed.

"F-Fujimura-sensei?!" Sajyou-san sounded shocked by the identity of his guardian but Shirou was more concerned about trying to figure out a good excuse for whatever his guardian was clearly irate about.

"Shirou! What are you doing hiding in the shed with a girl?!" the striped teacher asked with an almost horrified expression.

"Fuji-nee, this is Sajyou Ayaka-san," he decided to try and introduce her properly, "Sajyou-san, this is my guardian, Fujimura Taiga."

"Shirou!" it was obvious his guardian wasn't happy with him not explaining himself immediately but he still needed to figure out a way of explaining this situation, "explain."

He quickly latched onto the first excuse that came to his mind.

"I was just showing Sajyou-san something," he blurted out quickly.

The response was almost immediate as the older woman's face lost its colour and her eyes started to water.

"Where did I go wrong raising you?!" she cried out and Shirou found himself frowning in response.

"Since when did you raise me?" he asked bluntly, causing the woman to freeze in response.

Silence reigned after that and Shirou found himself turning to look at his new magecraft teacher and noted the surprised expression adorning her face.

"Anyway," he decided to push the current issue aside, "I'm going to go and make dinner now."

He immediately moved to return to the house when Sajyou's voice piped up.

"I'm surprised Emiya… I heard you were always polite and helpful," she sounded almost amused.

"It's a lie!" his big sister figure responded immediately, "he's always like this when it's just us!"

"That's because you deserve it," he answered without thinking.

"Grgh!" it was obvious Taiga didn't expect that response but he honestly didn't feel like indulging her right now.

"B-but for you to bring home a girlfriend without telling me!" his guardian spoke with a clear air of distress about her.

"W-what?!" Shirou found himself immediately doing a double take and turning his attention towards the oldest person there, "Sajyou-san isn't my girlfriend!... I don't even have one!"

"A-ah, Fujimura-sensei… Emiya-san was just showing me how to fix some basic appliances," the bespectacled girl stated with embarrassment clear in her tone as well.

"E-eh?" immediately the teacher seemed to lose her previous displeasure and have it replaced with confusion.

"I wanted to learn how to repair things myself to save money and Emiya-san offered to teach me," Sajyou said with uncertainty and Shirou found himself wondering just how well known his altruistic tendencies were for her to already have that good a grasp of something that would fit with his character.

"T-that does sound like Shirou…" it was obvious that Taiga was unsure whether to accept the explanation or not before she released a sigh, "I guess it is more likely than the other option."

Shirou had to try very hard not to release a sigh of relief.

Honestly, having the excuse that he was teaching Sajyou how to make repairs herself would give them a reason to go into the shed without too much suspicion being laid upon them.

The fact that it was closer to being the other way around wasn't important.

He couldn't do anything more than smile at the fact that this situation was happening at all… after all, now he would finally have a proper teacher that was actually invested in making sure he knew what he was doing when it came to magecraft.

A few more days and he wouldn't have to suffer the searing pain of converting one of his nerves into a magic circuit in order to do something as simple as structural analysis.

And it wasn't like he'd be idle during the wait, the next day would be important in setting himself up as a proper magecraft user instead of the total failure he was right now.

He found himself silently thanking Mitsuzuri for dragging him to Sajyou's apartment… even if he did feel bad about invading the Magus's home.

* * *

And that's another little WIP idea that ended up popping up on my forum.

Basic gist was the idea that in F/SN, there seem to be two versions of Ayaka from what I've read... one was in Ayako's year and participated in a game at some point and the other was the person from the ghost story about the Semina apartments that is a college student.

Combine that with the fact that the original version was a Magus in Fate/Prototype caused me to imagine this scenario -_-'

Now just to be clear, this isn't one specific version of Sajyou Ayaka... it's an amalgimation of all three versions of her.

So honestly, she's not far removed from an OC but she has a basis in the world as a whole.


	7. The Studies Of A Heroic Magus

**Boku No Hero Academia X TYPE-MOON**

 **If you haven't yet done so, there is a poll on my profile concerning what to do with these ideas.**

 **Will they stay like this?**

 **Or will they be posted as separate fics?**

* * *

Adelhard El-Melloi Archisorte was not in the best of moods as he walked through the streets of Tokyo.

Seeing so many of those disgusting 'Quirk' holders made him want to throw up.

If it wasn't for those horrific mutations, he was certain he would not be in his current predicament, running around, looking for someone capable of taking over his legacy because his own flesh and blood had lost the ability to take it upon themselves.

He probably wouldn't have bothered with this god-forsaken country if it wasn't for the savoir of the family's status being known to have a soft spot for the country.

Plus, there were few magi that went out of their way to look for heirs in Japan, so if there were any worthwhile apprentices, they were less likely to have been found here.

Not that he expected to find one walking the street, that was why he was heading towards a nearby park he had seen on the old map he had.

It may have been possible to make a decent apprentice out of an older individual, but a younger child would be more easily moulded into a proper magus.

Provided he could find a child without a Quirk in the first place.

He just hoped he hadn't wasted his time coming here.

It took nearly half an hour to reach the park and make his way into the middle of it and immediately found his attention drawn towards a small group of children, with one crying, another standing over them protectively and a group of three bearing down on them.

"Enough, Kacchan!" the boy that was standing defensively shouted as tears formed in his eyes and his body shook in clear terror, "y'already made him cry… stop it! I won't let you!"

The child was obvious being quite the fool, so he was about to stop listening when he heard the blond-haired boy respond with something he hadn't expected.

"So Deku, The Quikless Wonder… thinks he can play hero, huh?" and with that statement, the kid punched his palm, creating a small explosion before jumping at the little boy.

"ENOUGH!" Adelhard called out, his voice bearing no room for argument and causing the group of bullies to stall before looking at him and deciding to run.

The little 'Quirkless' boy seemed to fall to his knees in relief and Adelhard immediately went to check on the child.

"Are you alright child?" he asked in a tone he hoped wasn't too cold, he didn't want to scare the child away before he had the opportunity to examine him for latent magic circuits after all.

"Y-y-yeah… thank you mister," the boy was still clearly coming down from an adrenaline high but he was at least polite enough to not forget his manners when scared.

"That is quite all right young man," he responded with an expression he was unfamiliar with, he hoped it was reassuring.

Looking behind the young 'Quirkless' boy, he noted the child lying on the floor was now standing and running away.

Well, if the boy couldn't even stand up to playground bullies then he was of no use anyway.

"So young man, what is your name?" he asked, hoping the boy wouldn't be familiar with the saying 'don't talk to strangers' yet.

"M-Midoriya Izuku," the boy still seemed to be coming down from his fear, not that it was an issue, the fact that he refused to back down despite being so scared and outmatched was proof that the child had the guts to be a magus.

"Well then Izuku-kun," he spoke softly and with a smile gracing his face, "why did they call you Quirkless?"

Immediately he noted the way the boy seemed to tear up at the mere mention of that but he started to blubber out something about a doctor and not having a Quirk.

It was pretty obvious the boy was actually Quirkless and not just late to manifest it like some others he'd come across before.

So now the question was whether or not he had any latent magic circuits and if they would be good enough to meet his standards.

"I see," he spoke in a soft voice before deciding to lay the bait for this child, "and what if I told you that there was a way to gain powers without a Quirk?"

That seemed to draw the kid's attention and if it turned out he wasn't suitable for his purposes then he could easily wipe the child's mind and search out a new one.

"Really?" the boy looked at him with a look of pure wonder in his eyes, and he found himself wondering how long that wonder would last once he was learning about the world from the perspective of a magus.

"Yes, though I will have to test you first to make sure you're capable," he explained easily and the boy nodded happily… clearly he hadn't yet gotten it ingrained into him that he shouldn't listen to strangers.

Oh well, it would suit his purposes right now so he would exploit it maliciously.

XXX The Studies Of A Heroic Magus XXX

"Izuku!" he could do little more than stare at the boy's mother as he stood with the child at his side, "I was so worried!"

He could tell that she was close to tears and that there was very little in the way of anger stemming from her despite how upset she clearly was.

It almost made him feel bad about taking the boy to examine earlier… almost.

But he would most certainly not regret taking the boy from the park, after all, when he ran his tests on the boy, he counted Thirty-Four latent Magic Circuits, with all of them being at a high quality.

"I am sorry for any concern I may have caused you," he spoke as he looked the woman in the eyes and focused a little prana to overwhelm the woman's mind.

"N-no, thank you for bringing Izuku back to me sir," she responded in a manner that I was pleasantly surprised to hear, I guess those rumours I had heard about the Japanese generally being polite weren't entirely wrong even though I was placing a subtle suggestion into her head, "is there anything I can do to thank you?"

He had to withhold a smirk as he made his next statement while being careful to make her more accepting of what he was going to say.

"Actually, I am of an old German family of aristocrats," he explained without breaking eye contact for even so much as a blink, "unfortunately, I have no heirs to my fortune and decided to come to find someone worthy of my fortune."

"I don't know what help I could be with that," she responded without hesitation and he found himself wondering if she had even considered the possibility of it being passed onto her child.

"It would appear that you have misunderstood what I was saying," he continued, strengthening the hypnosis he was using on the woman, "I have already determined that your son would be the perfect candidate to inherit my family's legacy."

He could feel the woman's will trying to break free of his suggestion, trying to reject what he was saying but he simply redoubled his efforts and pushed down that denial, causing the woman to smile in response.

"Thank you for the honour… um… I'm sorry, I didn't catch your name," she sounded almost depressed when she said that, causing him to smirk in response.

"My name, is Adelhard El-Melloi Archisorte," he stated with the conviction and pride that his name demanded.

"Would you like to come in Archisorte-san?" she asked him almost immediately, even if she pronounced his name incorrectly in the process.

"That would be wonderful Midoriya-san," and with that, he entered the apartment, ready to start training his new protégé.

XXX The Studies Of A Heroic Magus XXX

"Wow!" the child seemed amazed as he looked at the traditional maid of the Archisorte family as they entered the apartment he had rented out for his stay in Tokyo.

A silver coloured, liquid metal automaton with a little programming error caused by an old movie… its designation, Trimmau, though it had originally been known as 'Volumen Hydrargyrum' back before Lord El-Melloi II had reprogrammed it.

"Do not look so amazed boy," he spoke up, causing the child to look at him, "once I have died, Trimmau here shall belong to you."

"Really?" he looked even more amazed at that, "hello miss Trimmau, you look like you have an amazing quirk!"

He found his eye twitching at that.

Indeed, she did have quite the quirk… provided you were using the original meaning of the word and not the modern interpretation of it.

"Is this child John Conner?" and there it was.

"No, he is not," he responded with little more than a sigh of exasperation, "he is your future master."

"… understood," and with that, the golem went silent.

"Come Midoriya Izuku," he spoke up with a firm tone, "it is time to start preparing you for your training."

XXX The Studies Of A Heroic Magus XXX

Adelhard wouldn't lie about being surprised when it came to the child's affinity… a rather rare dual affinity with Water and Wind.

It was certainly something he hadn't considered the boy would have but it was an even greater boon than simply having so many high-quality magic circuits.

Now of course, there was a simple matter of opening those circuits and starting on his training as a magus.

He found himself inwardly grateful for his preparation for finding a new heir to his legacy as he proceeded to pull out a large vial of his own blood with a stopper firmly placed at the top.

It had taken a few days to collect all of that when he was younger but the formulae on the vial prevented it from degrading over the years it had been in storage.

"What's tha'?" the boy asked with wide eyes glued to the red liquid.

"… it is a potion that will allow you to learn superpowers," he decided to lie about the specifics since it would probably make the child more willing to drink it.

"Really?" those wide eyes were too innocent but then again, the boy hadn't actually started his training as a magus yet so he could be forgiven… for now at least.

"Yes," he responded without missing a beat, he technically wasn't lying after all, he just wasn't giving the more technical explanation for it just yet.

His response seemed to result in the same effect feeding it copious amounts of caffeine and sugar would create, what with how it was now doing an impressively accurate imitation of one of those 'head bangers' that listened to that racket they called 'heavy metal'.

Removing the stopper from the vial, he moved it to the boy before giving a very simple set of instructions.

"Now, I need you to drink all of this," he stated firmly and slowly, "you must not spit out any… you must also try to not vomit it back up once it is down."

The boy's erratic movements stopped before he gave a firm nod of acceptance.

And with that said, he handed the vial to the boy who quickly proceeded to gulp it down.

Immediately he noticed the grimace that came over the boy's face but he continued to down it until no more came out of the glass container.

Soon the boy lowered the mostly empty vial and looked at him with a sickly expression.

As much as he hoped the boy could hold down the liquid, the human stomach wasn't exactly made to digest copious volumes of that particular liquid with no flesh to soak it up.

Minutes passed and he found himself growing impressed with the child's steel… despite looking like he was going to bring up the liquid several times, he refused to give in and continued to hold it down.

It was honestly rather heartening.

It meant that the boy had the resolve to go through with the training necessary for a magus… which meant that he may have very well found the perfect heir in this child.

Now, only time would tell if he was truly the diamond he was shaping up to be.

XXX The Studies Of A Heroic Magus XXX

Well, that was a minor setback.

It seemed that the child was incapable of learning any form of healing magecraft.

He hadn't understood why until he had tested the other factor that could potentially affect his magecraft.

Pain.

That had been the result.

This child possessed Pain as his Origin.

With something like that, it was no surprise he was incapable of fixing injuries.

Of course, there were a couple of basic healing spells recorded within the Archisorte Magic Crest and he had already started the process of transferring it to the child regardless of the sheer number of drugs he had needed to dose the boy up with, but he would never be capable of using a healing spell without the aid of something like that.

Then there was the issue of his infatuation with that 'Superhero' named All Might… honestly, he hadn't cared about that man's silly made up name but the boy had said it so many times since they had met that it had been ingrained into his skull with almost as much ferocity as the fact that 'To Be A Magus Is To Dance With Death' was.

Still… at least the boy had managed to gain _something_ out of that infatuation.

More specifically, he had somehow managed to figure out how to cycle the air around him in a manner similar to what Lord El-Melloi II described the Saber Class Servant of the Fourth Holy Grail War did to make its sword invisible.

But that wasn't the important part.

The important part was his origin… he would have to see about finding out about some of the more common curses that inflict pain, because of the boy had that as an origin, then he should be able to soak those up like a sponge.

Hopefully, the boy would develop well enough and not sully the good name of the Archisorte family.

XXX The Studies Of A Heroic Magus XXX

"Hey, Ojii-san… how do you deal with bullies?"

Adelhard found himself raising an eyebrow at his young protégé's question.

"If someone tries to bully you, the appropriate response is to gain leverage over them and make them wish they had never crossed you," he stated in a bland monotone.

"Leverage?" of course the child wouldn't know the meaning of that word.

"You find something they value and find a way to threaten it in order to make them obey you out of fear," he explained without looking up from his book.

"That sounds mean," the boy responded quickly and he found his teeth gritting.

"To be a Magus is to dance with death," he repeated the mantra yet again, hoping that at some point, the boy would come to understand it or at least remember it, "because of that, you must learn to be ruthless towards your enemies for they shall not show you any kindness."

"B-but isn't bullying a bully just as bad as bullying someone that isn't a bully?" the child asked and he opened his mouth and spoke his next words with nothing more than irritation.

"Has the bully stopped when you play nice?" it was a simple question that he already knew the answer to.

"… no."

"Then clearly the only way to ensure they stop is to put them on the receiving end," he stated firmly, "in the end, the single truth of the world is that might makes right… if that 'All Might' hero you are so fond of was evil, then he could easily decide that murder was a perfectly acceptable action and force the governments of the world to accept or face destruction."

The boy definitely looked upset at that explanation but the sooner he understood the truth, the easier it would be for him to release that restrictive moral code he currently operated under.

"… how do I stop explosions?"

And with that question by the child, Adelhard smirked.

* * *

Well... this idea popped into my head due to deciding to watch the BnHA anime.

Basic gist of the idea, since BnHA is set at least a few generations into the future, I thought it would be interesting to play with the idea that it evolved from a TYPE-MOON world... and that Quirks interfered with Magic Circuits.

Yes, I know that Quirks are physical and Magic Circuits are contained within the soul, but the idea of the concept of quirk denying the concept of magic circuits isn't impossible.

Still... due to the proliferation of Quirks, many magi families have died out in this version of the setting, Dead Apostles are rarer due to the issue of most people having some way to defend themselves etc.

But anyway...

That's all for now.

Shadow out.


	8. The Cases Of A Demonic Detective

**Shin Megami Tensei (Franchise as a whole)**

* * *

Kashima Naoki could do little more than release a sigh of frustration as he looked at the work for his course.

It wasn't that the work was too hard for him, he had been consistently excelling for the first two and a half years of his University education.

Unfortunately, things had taken a turn for the worse and he had been distracted from his education for the next half a year.

Of course, that had been manageable and he had still succeeded in passing his end of year exams, though his performance had clearly been impacted by the circumstances outside of his schooling.

But for the past month, he had simply found focusing on his coursework nigh impossible.

Even here, in the nigh silence of the local library, he couldn't concentrate on the work that lay before him, taunting him with the work he would have to catch up on if he didn't get it all down by the start of his fourth and final year of the course.

"Uh, Naoki-kun, are you alright?" he was pulled from his thoughts as he looked up to see a familiar face looking at him with concern, framed by long brown hair and soft brown eyes.

It was just a shame that every time he saw that face, he remembered the time he killed the girl that owned it.

"Yeah, I'm fine Chiaki," he responded with little in the way of vigour.

"You still don't look it," she responded with a bit of a frown and he found himself looking away, "Naoki, it's been a month already, I know you were closer to Takao-sensei than anyone else but..."

"Like I said," he cut her off as a sadness swelled up inside him, "I'm fine."

She looked away from him as her hands clenched in clear frustration at his refusal to admit he was struggling... then again, ever since he had restored the world to the way it was before the Conception, he had found himself unable to treat his friends the way he had before.

Seeing them crack under the pressure of the new world and become monsters, and then killing them with his own two hands had caused a irreversible change in his consciousness about them.

"You know, even Isamu took her death better than you," she spoke up and he found himself internally agreeing with her... but then again, their relationship had changed after the Conception and his decision to restore the world to how it once was.

His lack of a response seemed to cause the girl he had known for over a decade to release a sigh of defeat before speaking up once again.

"Look Naoki... I don't know what happened between us... but please," she sounded almost hurt as she spoke up, her voice nearly cracking upon saying her next sentence, "remember that I will always be there for you."

No, she wouldn't.

He knew that from experience, after all, she had fought him to the death before and just because she didn't remember, didn't change the fact that it had happened.

"... I'll see you later Naoki-kun," and with that, the brown-haired girl started to walk away from him, leaving him alone to his thoughts once again.

He released a sigh as he packed up his books.

He needed a drink and a friendly ear and he knew exactly who would provide one for him.

XXX The Cases Of A Demonic Detective XXX

"And that's how it is," he almost slurred out before he finished off the bottle the owner had strict rules about only giving to him.

Then again, if it was given to anyone else, Madame Ginko would have to deal with the legal fallout of selling a drink powerful enough to kill a Blue Whale with a single drop… and that wasn't even an exaggeration given that the drink was distilled from the venom of a Zhen and therefore not fit for mortal consumption.

"I know, you've been coming to me about this for years now," the woman tending the bar with a form fitting brown business suit and a white trenchcoat responded as she took her pipe from her mouth.

"Yeah, but you're still good at helping me vent Ginko-chan," he responded without a hint of hesitation, "plus, you're the only person in this whole country who can find booze strong enough for me… and I don't have to worry about what I say to you either."

"I suppose that's true," the answer was given without pause on her end either, "it certainly beats you going to the Phantom Society with your troubles."

That was an understatement if he had ever heard one… the idea of him taking anything other than a wholesale slaughter to those sociopaths was hilarious to say the least.

"You know I wouldn't go there… they'd run long before I reached them," he pointed out, earning a small laugh from the blonde.

"That's true," and with that response by the manager of the bar, silence once again descended upon him as he finished off his drink.

"So, is there any advice you can give me?" he asked with a frown once again adorning his features, earning a sigh of defeat off the owner.

"Only what I've given you the last eight times you've dropped by," the blonde with the ponytail responded with a shrug, earning a sigh of defeat off him.

The fact that the only advice he could get was to experience a change of scenery for a while and try to refresh himself was rather disappointing, especially given his status as a student giving him commitments he couldn't just dismiss.

"I guess it's too much to ask, isn't it?" he muttered as he lay his head in his arms.

"It is when you decided that you would stay in the city instead of take a holiday," the blonde responded without hesitation.

"I couldn't afford it," he pointed out immediately, "you know I barely make enough to get by as it is."

"Ah yes," the smirk that graced Madame Ginko's lips as she spoke made him cringe, knowing that the next sentence would be scathing at the very least, "the mighty Hitoshura… a being capable of forcing an Avatar of the Axiom to remake the world… struggling to make rent."

"Do you really want me to start abusing my power Ginko-chan?" he asked with a blank stare, "it could be arranged after all."

"As long as you pay your tab, then feel free," she responded with a smirk of her own, causing him to release yet another sigh… it seemed he couldn't so much as intimidate a Kuzunoha anymore.

It was probably his reputation… he had too good a reputation among that group these days.

"Fine, fine, I have to pay my tab," he said with a good-natured chuckle before continuing, "anyway, thanks for the drinks Ginko-chan, see you around."

He rose from his seat and offered a wave of farewell as he started to make his way towards the exit.

"Try not to get into any trouble on your way home," the blonde manager spoke with amusement clear in her tone and he offered a smile of his own.

"I'll try," and with that, he exited the club and started on the journey home.

XXX The Cases Of A Demonic Detective XXX

Naoki couldn't stop himself from blearily waking to the sound of his mobile phone ringing next to his bed.

That in itself was nothing unusual for him, he had it acting as his alarm clock under normal circumstances anyway, but this was the ringtone and not the alarm tone, so he picked up the phone and answered.

"Hello?" he asked as he tried to set his head straight.

[Hello, is that Kashima Naoki?] a strong yet clearly female voice on the other side asked and he found himself frowning at how familiar it sounded.

"It is," he responded uncertainly.

[Great, this is Kuzunoha Raidou XV, could you come over to my place later, I've got something I want to talk to you about,] ah, so that was why the voice sounded familiar.

He hadn't really interacted with the fifteenth Raidou that much but he had met her and knew that she had gone by the name Minegishi Kouka before taking on the mantle of Raidou.

"Sure, how urgent is it?" he asked, wondering just how quickly he should get there.

[It is urgent enough that we've waited a few years before making the decision,] that made him blink in surprise.

Normally the Kuzunoha only contacted him if everything was going apocalyptic and they needed raw firepower on par with Lucifer or Yahweh.

For them to want to talk to him about something that was so unimportant that they chose to wait for years before bringing it up was… unusual.

"If that's the case then why are you phoning me so early in the morning?" he asked.

[…it's half nine,] he could hear the disbelieving tone over the phone, causing him to turn to look at the clock and wonder why he wasn't already up by then.

Oh, of course, night out drinking and day off of both University and his part time job.

"Ah, sorry about that," he immediately responded, "not used to having days off so… I thought it was earlier than my alarm."

[So you turned off your alarm and forgot you did,] it was obvious that she understood exactly what he was thinking.

"Yeah, sorry about that," he couldn't stop himself from releasing a sigh.

[Well… I guess I should've considered that anyway,] the latest holder of the title of Raidou said with a sigh of her own, [Madame Ginko did mention that you had stayed at her club pretty late last night.]

That was true.

"So, have you got any appointments about lunch time?" he asked.

[No, I'm free then,] she responded without hesitation, [will you be coming over then?]

"Yeah, do you want me to bring anything with me?" he decided to ask just to be sure.

[Well… I wouldn't say no if you brought a curry with you,] he almost chuckled at that.

"Fine, I'll see about bringing you one… provided you compensate me for the money spent on it," he clarified for her.

[That's fine, just get me something so we can talk over lunch,] she responded without hesitation, [see you later Kashima-san.]

"Yeah, see you later Minegishi-san," he replied himself.

[Oi! What have I told you about calling me that?] her voice called out over the phone.

"Sorry, but I worked with the fourteenth Raidou once, so until you prove yourself to be on his level, I'm not going to call you by that title," he did little more than shrug as he made that statement.

[Tch… bloody time travel,] he couldn't stop the grin that tugged at his face at her reaction.

"Anyway, I'll see you lunch time," and with that, he ended the call.

After a few seconds, he found himself releasing a sigh.

It seemed like he was going to be having another busy day.

XXX The Cases Of A Demonic Detective XXX

Naoki couldn't stop himself from looking around the Kuzunoha Detective Agency as he stepped inside, wondering if anything had changed since he had last stepped within its bounds.

"So… what happened to your assistant?" it was the first thing he said as he looked at the empty desk that had previously been used by the assistant who had been around the last time he had come by.

"He quit," the answer came from the woman he was there to see, "couldn't handle the danger involved in the cases I deal with."

He turned his attention towards the owner of the voice and took in her appearance since the last time he had seen her.

She still looked to be in the region of her early forties and her hair was still red… but her once shoulder length ponytail had been cut down to only go down to her jawline, while an eyepatch now hid what was obviously a severe eye injury she got recently if the redness of the trio of scars that ran all the way down from her forehead to her jaw was anything to go by.

Then there was the bandage on her left hand, the shape of which indicated she had recently lost her pinky finger… probably due to the same being that took her eye.

Beyond that, she was dressed the same way she had been the last time he saw her, with a smart navy-blue pinstripe suit with a red tie.

"You look like shit Kouka-chan," he found himself pointing out, earning a flinch from the woman.

"Indeed, your predecessor would've never been injured that badly," a far more familiar voice cut in and he turned his attention towards a small black cat that was currently resting on one of the filing cabinets.

"It's good to see you again, Gouto-dono," he spoke towards the feline.

"Likewise," came the curt response.

"Hey! Why does the bloody _**cat**_ get more respect than me?" the current Raidou asked in clear displeasure.

"Because Raidou respected him and I respected Raidou," he explained easily as he moved towards her desk with the Takeaway bag in his hand, "so naturally, I would respect the person that taught him everything he knew about his job."

"I'm definitely rethinking this offer," he heard her grumble in response to his declaration, as he put the bag on the desk for her to check out, "so you remembered I like Indian."

"Just because I don't respect you as much as Raidou or Gouto-dono doesn't mean I don't like you," he admitted. For as much as he considered her inferior to her predecessor, it didn't change the fact that she was a good person who he enjoyed the company of the few times they had met before, "so what was that about an 'offer'?"

"You know how the Clan hasn't been able to figure out what to do concerning you since the old man first introduced you to us?" she asked and he found himself releasing a sigh at the memory.

It had been a surprise when a ninety-year-old Kuzunoha Raidou the Fourteenth had knocked on his front door after the Conception had been reversed.

That the man had then taken him to the current clan heads to introduce him and explain how he knew him had caused some suspicion among the four heads, with Kouka being the only one who chose to accept the explanation without suspicion.

Since then, the Clan had kept in contact with him but made sure to keep him at arm's length, only calling on his aid if they had no other choice.

"Yeah," he acknowledged her question.

"Well, we've finally managed to come to a consensus courtesy of Madame Ginko's information on you," she told him and he found himself suddenly wondering just what she told them.

"What information?" he asked her with narrowed eyes.

"Just that you took the death of your lover like any human would," she told him and he felt his heart tear in his chest at the reminder of just how close he and Yuko had become since the world had been restored, "and that you could do with a better paying job."

He frowned at that.

"You're offering me a job?" he asked uncertainly.

"That's right," her response was quick and blunt, "I need an assistant that can hold their own and not get scared off when things get bad... and you need money, it's a win-win situation."

He couldn't stop himself from staring in surprise.

"And the rest of the heads agreed with this?" he asked in confusion... it didn't sound like something they would decide concerning him.

"They didn't really have much choice in the matter," his attention was drawn towards Gouto as he spoke up once again, "you've managed to gain the favour of most of the clan and our allies, plus you've never shown any signs of even considering going rogue… given all of that, not offering you a place within the clan would give the impression of undue paranoia… especially given it was two on two."

"Does that mean that Kyouji was on my side as well?" he asked, given that outside of Raidou, he had only really met Kuzunoha Kyouji outside of the introductory meeting.

"Yeah, seems you managed to gain the trust of his assistant… who convinced him that you were genuine," the red-head spoke up herself.

"I guess I should thank Rei-san the next time I see her then," he muttered, remembering the brunette that worked with the closest thing the Kuzunoha had to an assassin.

"Does that mean you accept?" she asked after he made that claim.

"Definitely," he responded without hesitation, "if I'm being perfectly honest… it was because I was hoping to join your clan that I took the subjects I did at University."

"R-really?" she sounded almost surprised by that claim, "and what subjects did you take?"

"A Major in Forensics with Law as a minor," he admitted, earning a nod of understanding from the Private Detective.

"Can't say I can fault you on that choice if this was your goal," the one-eyed woman said without hesitation, "so, is it fine if we fill out the paperwork now?"

"Yeah, I've got the time," he admitted.

"Grea-ow!" she started before clapping her hands and obviously aggravating her injury, causing him to grimace at her pain.

"You okay?" he asked her in response to her slip up.

"Y-yeah… just forgot I shouldn't do that while my hand is still healing over," she responded, and he found himself releasing a sigh at that explanation.

"So… paperwork?" he decided to try and get the conversation back on track.

"Right," she said before pulling out a form, "just got to fill out this form and send it off, it'll probably take a couple of weeks to process even with our contacts but once it's done, you should get a license and the legal right to carry a firearm."

That would certainly be useful.

After all, humans tended to give guns more respect than an unarmed person, even if that unarmed person just so happened to be one of the most powerful beings in all of existence, unbound by concepts such as physics and capable of destroying things on a conceptual level.

Plus, they were less lethal than one of his punches.

"That'll definitely help," he admitted without hesitation.

"Yeah, we'd supply you with a GUMP but I think that might be more disadvantageous to you than a normal gun would be," she informed him.

He silently agreed with her on that, GUMP's were definitely advantageous for a human to possess, but he wasn't a human and the Demon Summoning Program was pointless given his own natural ability to summon them himself, while the inbuilt Harmonizer would just make it easier for regular humans to harm him.

Of course, if he was really concerned about that then he could just use the Magatama given to him by Masakados, but having that embedded in his skull all the time would prevent him from feeling anything at all and that wasn't a particularly pleasant existence.

"Anyway, let's get this started," and with that statement from the scarred woman, he took the form and started to fill out what he had to.

XXX The Cases Of A Demonic Detective XXX

"So… what isn't she telling me Gouto-dono," he asked as he left the detective agency and took to the streets, "why didn't she have one of her demons heal her wounds?"

"Her GUMP was destroyed," the voice of the Black Cat called out from a nearby window, "she barely made it out of the situation alive without it… and by the time she got out of the hospital and somewhere she could safely call for a new one, her wounds had already healed over too much to really repair."

He released a sigh at that explanation.

"What of her memory card?" he inquired to the being he had learned possessed the soul of the first Kuzunoha Raidou.

"It fell," the feline answered without hesitation, "the people who did that to her now have it… though at least the data was encrypted so they probably haven't been able to decode it yet."

It made no difference to him if it had been decoded or not.

Despite the power of the demons contained within the memory banks of her GUMP, none of them were a true threat to him with the possible exception of one single individual and even they were easily countered with a single decision.

He at least knew what his first case was going to end up being now… whether Kouka wanted him to take it or not.

"Are you planning on doing anything about it?" Gouto spoke and he released a sigh.

"Not until it's legal for me to do so," he admitted… there was no doubt in his mind that he wanted to go straight to whoever did that to her and show them just why injuring someone he was friendly with leaped straight past the line from foolish to suicidal.

"Are you sure you want to wait that long?" the question made him grunt.

"I don't want to wait… but it'll be easier to get the information I need when it would be legal," he admitted without hesitation.

"True… I doubt that gang are still hanging around the same warehouse," the response was quick and he found himself frowning.

"Plus… as much as I may want to kill them… it wouldn't look good on my application if it ever came out," he pointed out, "and bringing them in without proof would just cause more problems."

"It's good to see you thinking things through properly," the first Raidou said with a hint of amusement in his tone.

"You know that if I didn't think things through, I would've died in the Vortex World," he pointed out, earning a snort of amusement from the cat.

"Doesn't mean it's impossible for you to have forgotten those habits in the past five years," he couldn't lie with that statement.

It was all too easy to forget skills you don't use often.

"When my license comes through, will you help me?" he asked the far more experienced being.

"You were a friend of the man that brought more respect to the Raidou name than anyone else," the response made it obvious what he was going to say, "if you asked me to help you right now, I'd probably say yes anyway."

"Thank you Gouto-dono," he thanked the cat without hesitation.

"Now I should get back to the agency before the current Raidou grows too suspicious," and with that, the feline turned and started to make its way back the way they had been walking.

XXX The Cases Of A Demonic Detective XXX

Naoki couldn't stop himself from staring at the name on the monument that currently stood before him in the graveyard.

 _Takao Yuko_.

He found himself releasing a sigh as he knelt down and started to change over the flowers that weren't far from dying.

He took his time, making sure the arrangement was appropriate before retaining his kneeling position.

"Hey Yuko," he spoke up, wondering if she could hear him from whatever afterlife she had gone to, "sorry about being such a downer recently."

"Things just aren't the same without you around," he continued as he felt his heart wrench at the memory of how empty he felt when he found out she had died, "but I didn't come here to bore you with that."

He put on a wry smile before continuing.

"The Kuzunoha have offered me a job," he said, remembering how she had reacted when he had told her that he wanted to join that clan and help protect people from demons and secretive organisations, "it's only as an assistant to the current Raidou but it's my first step into the clan so it's better than what I got before."

Silence was his only answer, not that he was expecting any different.

Ghosts weren't people after all.

They were nothing more than impressions of Magnetite that kept a form similar to the person they belonged to when they died.

It was also why only people who held strong emotions when they died carried on as ghosts… without the strong emotions, they didn't produce enough magnetite to imprint it on the world.

That was one definite disadvantage of being aware of the Supernatural aspects of the world… the wonder was removed and things that others might have found mysterious or disturbing was reduced to little more than a science for him.

"Anyway… I hope you're happy in whatever afterlife you've gotten yourself into," he continued, "and I hope you'd be proud of me."

He decided to finish up there and simply sat in silence.

Time passed by slowly before he offered a quick prayer to his old teacher and rising from his kneeling position, ready to return to his apartment.

XXX The Cases Of A Demonic Detective XXX

Naoki could do little more than release a sigh of defeat as he reached his apartment.

Once again Chiaki had messaged him about spending time together and once again, he had turned her down… and despite remembering the way she had gone on a genocidal rampage back in the vortex world, she wasn't _quite_ the same Chiaki she was back then.

But that was purely because of circumstances surrounding her right now.

This version of her had never experienced the brutality of the Vortex World, discovered Gozu-Tennoh or become an Avatar of Baal.

In the end, he knew he was being irrational, but it was hard not to be when you clearly remember fighting two of your best friends to the death due to ideological differences.

Releasing a sigh, he decided it was time to talk to the one person who he considered his single best friend now that Yuko had passed on.

With a click of his fingers, he watched as the purple lightning that represented one of his summons snapped through an area not far from him.

Almost immediately, he found himself blinking owlishly at the sight before him.

He had expected to see the tiny, insect winged, red-headed girl in a blue leotard, bicep long gloves and thigh high boots that had joined him right at the very start of his journey through the Vortex World.

He had _**not**_ expected to see her hiding her wings while wearing a tan coat, deerstalker cap and holding a tobacco pipe between her lips.

"Pixie… what are you doing?" he found himself asking in confusion at her costume.

"It's elementary my dear Watson," she responded in a very accurate depiction of a classical upper-class English Woman's accent, "you are now a Detective's assistant are you not?"

And suddenly it made sense.

"I see," he responded with a small smile tugging at his lips, "you were watching me talking with Kouka."

"Naturally," she replied with her accent returning to its normal inflection, "do you really think I'd _**not**_ keep an eye on my single favourite person in the entire multiverse?"

"When you put it that way…" he started only to smirk at her, "it makes you sound like a stalker."

"Well I _am_ wearing a deerstalker so take that how you will," she responded before blowing a raspberry at him, "so… are you looking forward to kicking the asses of whoever injured… whatever her name is."

"Minegishi Kouka," he stated with a sigh of his own, "I'm sure you forget her name on purpose."

"I don't forget it on purpose… I just never bothered trying to memorize it in the first place," she answered without shame.

And he found himself inwardly sighing at just how obvious that was.

"Well… given that we're going to be working for her from now on, can you please try to make an effort to at least remember one of her names," he asked her calmly.

She remained silent for a few seconds before releasing a sigh of her own.

"Fine… I'll try to remember her name," the tiny English girl responded with a look of defeat on her face, "but only because you asked nicely."

"Thanks Pixie," he said gratefully.

"Well… like I said, you _are_ my favourite person in the multiverse," she responded with a pout, causing him to give her a wry smile.

"And you're my best friend in the multiverse," he responded, noting the way she seemed to deflate at that.

It wasn't really a surprise to him that she would react that way.

For all her cheerful and upbeat persona, she was clearly infatuated with him.

"Can you promise me something?" he noted the way she spoke and he turned the entirety of his attention towards her.

"What is it?" he wasn't foolish enough to give his word before finding out what was being asked of him.

"Promise me that you won't feel the same way for that detective you did for your teacher," it was a pretty simple request but he had to be realistic in his response.

"Pixie… people don't choose how they feel about others, so I can't promise you that," he responded with a wry smile, "however, I doubt that'll be a problem."

Even if he got along with the current Raidou, he most certainly felt no attraction towards her.

"Really? I was under the impression you were into older women," she responded, and he found himself chuckling in amusement.

"Don't take Yuko as the standard," he told her as calmly as he could, "she was just _**that**_ special."

"And what about me?" the question was clearly loaded but he wasn't going to lie.

"You're special too… just in a different way," he admitted, earning a frown off the tiny girl, "you're more like the silly little sister to me."

"Well… as they say online, Incest equals Wincest," and with that, he found himself facepalming.

"And now I regret giving you access to the internet," he stated in exasperation.

"Too late now Onii-chan," she responded with amusement in her tone.

"You're not going to let me live that down are you?" he asked with a sigh of defeat.

"Nevah!" her response was clearly not serious, and he found himself smiling in response to it.

She seemed to share in his own amusement as a comfortable silence descended between them.

"So… can you summon the gang? I feel like playing some World Of Darkness right now," the fairy asked him and he found himself raising an eyebrow before remembering her current attire.

"… you just want to play detective, don't you?" he asked her bluntly, earning a nod of acknowledgement from the girl, "all right then."

And with that, he selected a particular group from his stock of demons.

Cu Chulainn, Scathach, Queen Mab and Danu.

One of the wonders of getting to know Victor was getting access to demons that he hadn't been able to meet back in the Vortex World.

Danu was one such deity and one of the ones he had no problems getting along with.

Her son was a little harder to though, given his immense cynicism but the Irish god was still fun to have the odd conversation with despite that.

"Alright, you five have fun," he told them as he moved towards his bedroom, "I'm going to try and get some studying done."

The quintet all acknowledged him in their own ways as he left the room to the group.

He had studying to try and do and some time before he started his new job as a Detectives Assistant, so he should make the most of it.

* * *

 **Well... this idea was... interesting to end up with.**

 **It started off as a Love Hina Crossover with the basic premise of Naoki knowing Aoyama Tsuruko due to connections with Demon Hunting Organisations.**

 **Then it started to drift and eventually I ended up realizing that the Love Hina aspects were... irrelevant and unnecessary.**

 **So I decided to remove them completely and just focus on the SMT stuff.**

 **And it was _so_ much easier to write after that.**

 **Anyway... that's it for this idea so far.**

 **Shadow Out.**


End file.
